Spurred on by a pumped up home crowd at the Royal College Sports Complex, the home side got their season off to a flyertoday as they staged a dominant first half performance in order to come out as the eventual winners against a lackluster St. Anthony’s side.
The home side got proceedings underway in the 3rd minute through a wonderful try constructed by their dependable forwards a feature for Royal over the years. After having fought their way into the opposing 22 the forwards used their strength and power to inch to the try line via some precisely executed pick and drives. Ultimately their perseverance proved to be too much for the Anthonians as the hooker Supun Warnakulasuriya crashed over the line to score. The extras were added on with ease by Ashok Wijekumar (Royal 07- St. Anthonys 00).
The Royalists extended their lead when their jumper Umesh Madushan stole the ball from an opposing line out and linked up with the flanker Shawket Lahir. Lahir was able to free his legs but was put down only to witness the ball being worked wide on to the right flank by the Royal fly half Ashok. Royal was guaranteed to score as an infringement was committed just as a Royalist was about to cross the try line leading to referee Dinka Peires awarding a penalty try to the boys in Blue and Gold. Ashok once again converted with ease (Royal 14- St. Anthony’s 00).
More pain was to follow for the visitors as their scrambling defense was once again split open by the Royalists who went onto score their third try. The move began with the Royalists winning a line out in the opposing 22, following which Lahir and Peiris linked up in order to enable the line to work the ball wide on to the left. It was easy pickings for the full back Ayendra Subasinghe who joined the line effectively in order to collect the ball and complete the score. Ashoks conversion sailed wide (Royal 19 – St. Anthony’s 00).
A wonderful phase of attacking rugby led to another try for the Royalists who were putting on a show for their loyal supporters. This time around it was Ashok who got his name amongst the try scorers as he collected the ball cleanly on the back of a 5 meter scrum and stepped his way through the helpless defense in order to scoretowards the left of the uprights. His conversion was unsuccessful however the Royalists appeared to be progressing from strength to strength in the game (Royal 24- St. Anthony’s 00). Only minutes after Ashok’s try another one followed courtesy their speedy winger Mahima Gamage. The distribution was once again spot on as the ball was worked wide on to the right for the winger to score. Ashok’s conversion was successful (Royal 31- St. Anthony’s 00).
The last 5 minutes of the first half witnessed the St Anthony’s team attempting to get some points on the board however it was not meant to be as the Royalists defense held steady in order to keep the visitors at bay.
Half time: Royal College 31 (5 T, 3 C) – St Anthony’s College 00
The Anthonians got off to a far better start in the second half as they cut down on their handling errors and started to retain possession of the ball. Their efforts were rewarded as the Royal defense was caught napping when the visitors took a quick tap and ran through their defense. Dihan Fernando was the man of the moment for his team as he sailed past the defenders to score a much needed try for St. Anthony’s College. The conversion was unsuccessful (Royal 31- St. Anthony’s 05).
However the visiting team’s enthusiasm was nipped in the bud as the Royalists retaliated to score the next points of the game. It was a case of the Gamage’s as Mahima Gamage set up captain Banuka Gamage with a wonderful inside pass in order to enable the talented center to gallop into space and score right under the post. The extra points were added on by the replacement fly half O.A. Askey (Royal 38- St. Anthony’s 00).
The intensity of the game reduced over the next few plays as both teams made careless mistakes, made basic handling errors and gave away penalties. Just when it seemed like the game would end without the scores being troubled any further the visitors struck through a wonderful interception try. The Anthonian winger Tiron Jeyraj was quick to latch onto a weak pass made by a Royalist in and around the 50 meter mark. From that second onwards it was a losing battle for the Royalists who attempted to chase down the winger who crossed the line with ease in order to take his teams score into double figures. The conversion was once again missed (Royal 38 – St Anthony’s 10).
Moments later the referee blew the long whistle to end a game that was essentially a Royal domination.
Full time score: Royal College 38 (6 T, 4 C) – St. Anthony’s College 10 (2 T)
