S. Thomas’ College led by their inspirational Skipper Naveen Henakankanamge, successfully defended their schools rugby 7’s title beating Isipathana College 19-14 in the final at Race course international stadium for a second successive year.
The Thomians booked their spot in the final after beating St. Peter’s College 17-12 in the quarter final after having beaten Trinity College 21-14 in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Isipathana College beat Kingswood College in their semi-final 19-14 after beating St Anthony’s College 24-19 in the quarter final.
Isipathana kicked off the final and had a good build up in the first minute, but Dion Dias somehow capitalized on a turn-over and sprinted under the posts for the opening try of the game before knocking over the conversion to give the Thomians a 7-0 lead. Dias was once again instrumental in the second try setting up Mayon Jayawardane who went over to extend the lead for S Thomas by 14 points. Isipathana drew the deficit to 7 points off the ensuing kick-off when Nadeesh Chaminda used his pace to run down the line to score under the posts.
Half-time: S. Thomas’ College 14 – Isipathana College 7
If Isipathana were to make a comeback they needed to score early in the second half, but Thomians had other ideas. They defended brilliantly all through the half and managed to score again whilst having a man in the bin as Naveen Henakankanamge used his blistering pace to give the Thomians a 19-07 lead.
Isipathana kept fighting through the dying stages of the game and ran in a consolation try in the very last phase of the game but the Thomians celebrated as they were crowned the Schools 7’s champions once again.
Full time: S. Thomas’ College 19 – Isipathana College 14
Plate Championship
St Peter’s College 24 – Science College 12
The Peterites managed to end their season with some silverware with the Diyath Fernando led team showing good composure to beat Science College in the plate final. It was a reverse of the plate final result from 2016
Bowl Championship
St Joseph’s College 26 – Wesley College
The Milo Knockout Champions St. Joseph’s were forced to settle for the bowl championship after they were beaten in the group stages by S. Thomas’ College. In the final Wesley College posed a threat in the first half but fell short eventually to a star studded Joes line-up that was just too good on the Day.
Shield Championship
Piliyandala Central 19 – Moratu Vidyalaya 12
Piliyandala Central closed a 12 point deficit in the second half to beat Moratu Vidyalaya in Shield final after Piliyandala found themselves playing with just 5 men in the first half.
Player of the tournament Naveen Henakankanamge speaking to thepapare.com;
“We played the game like any other, without pressure and focused on getting the basics right. It was great game and I’m happy with the win. We had tough league, with players leaving and new players coming in. It feel great to win back to back titles and I give all the credit to the team as they did the needful. “
