St. Joseph’s College put up a gallant defense to beat St. Peter’s College by 10-5 points in their Singer Schools Rugby League 2018 cup championship match worked out at CR & FC grounds on Saturday.
After leading 10-5 in the first half, St. Joseph’s College defended their hearts out in the second half with only 14 players as the scores remained the same allowing Joes to retain the Rev. Fr Basil Weerathunga Memorial Shield.
Joes scored two unconverted tries early on while the visiting Petes managed only one solitary try.
The Josephian skipper Sameesha Virangana kicked-off the game, in rainy conditions.
The home team, St. Joseph’s College was brilliant early on as they stuck to their game plan by attacking the Peterite line at pace. Flanker Shehan Eranda was denied in the third minute of the match when he was held up by a Peterite defender under the post.
St. Joseph’s College vs St. Peter’s College | ThePapare Stats Centre
ThePapare Match Centre
However, the five-meter scrum enabled the Josephians to unleash their speedy back three as full back Gemunu Chethiya drew two defenders and passed to the right winger Tharindu Maduranga who easily dotted down in the near corner. Santhush Algama failed to bisect the posts. (SJC 05 – 00 SPC)
Soon after the restart, Josephian left winger Dilan Kavinda made a dashing run through the flank from a scrum but was brought down inches away from the try line. Prop Forward Shavon Gregory completed the work when he barged over to score the second try. Algama once again missed the conversion. (SJC 10 – 00 SPC)
St. Joseph’s dominated the first twenty minutes of the game as their clear plan of going for the territory by kicking enabled them to camp inside the Peterite half.
The momentum of the match took a turn completely when Tharindu Maduranga was red-carded in the 22nd minute when he landed a dangerous tackle on a Peterite player.The Joes were left with the daunting task of going for the win with only 14 players on the field for the rest of the game.
The visitors brilliantly exposed the one-man advantage as fly-half Kenneth Wimaladasa scored the only Peterite try in the 30th minute. Full back Shehan Liyanapathirana failed to add extra points. (SJC 10 – 05 SPC)
With this, St. Joseph's College have successfully retained their silverware and the Basil Weerathunga trophy will remain at Darley road
Before the half-time whistle, Wimaladasa breached the Josephian defensive line again but a superb tackle by Chethiya, meters away from the posts, saved a certain try as both teams went into the sheds.
Half-time: SJC 10 – 05 SPC
After lemons, Liyanapathirana restarted the game and the Peterites soon found themselves dominating possession and territory.
The Josephians made a couple of unforced errors; not finding touch, knock-ons etc which hampered their progress but their defense was solid.
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The Petes threw everything at the Joesphians but could not breach their 14-man defense wall throughout the second half.
The visitors made a couple of handling errors with the try line in front which came back to haunt them in the end as the Joes produced the best defense display of the season to end the unbeaten run of St. Peter’s College
Full-time: St. Joseph’s College 10 (2T) – 05 (1T) St. Peter’s College
ThePapare player of the Match – Tharindu De Alwis (St. Joseph’s College Number Eight)
Skipper Sameesha Virangana shared his views after the match, “Soon after Tharindu’s red card, our plan was to play a territorial game and keep defending our line. It was a valiant, brave effort from everyone.” he said.
Score Breakdown
SJC try scorers: Tharindu Maduranga and Shavon Gregory
SPC try scorer: Kennath WimaladasaCautions; Red Card – Tharindu Maduranga (SJC)
Match Referee – Aaqil Jamaldeen
