St. Joseph’s College hosted Kingswood College in a Dialog Schools Rugby League group stage penultimate week clash at the Havelock Park and registered a convincing 55-05 victory to make a strong claim for a top 4 finish in their group.
The first try of the game came when a penalty close to the 22m line was awarded to the home team and Bheeshma Jayasekara took it quickly and gave the pass out to Senithu Eran who went for the try under the posts. Jayasekara converted the first try of the day (SJC 07 – 00 KCK)
Kingswood College managed to hit back just a few minutes later as a Scrum from the 22m line of the opposition was used brilliantly by the number 8 Chamod Wickramasinghe who ran all the way with the ball thanks to a missed tackle. The conversion however was unsuccessful for the visitors (SJC 07 – 05 KCK)
A clearance kick from Kingswood College went straight to Nathan Gunaratne who charged forward and gave the ball out to Promodh Perera and he gave away a perfectly timed pass to Theshan Kithnuka and he managed to evade the last defender quite easily with some lovely footwork to go all the way. Jayasekara added the extra points once again to increase the lead for Joes (SJC 14 – 05 KCK)
St. Joseph’s third try was absolutely phenomenal as they kickstarted a rolling maul inside their own half and gained some good metres. After it was illegally stopped by Kingswood, Joes continued the play as Ivano White fended some tacklers to gain good yardage and then some slick passing from White to Jayasekara to Kithnuka gave ample space for the latter to score the try. Conversion unfortunately didn’t go over this time from Jayasekara (SJC 19 – 05 KCK)
St. Joseph’s College attacked straight away from the restart after the third try and some decent ball carries opened the doors for their big forward Shehath Malinda to make a dash and fend off the last defender to find the whitewash quite easily. Conversion however once again went astray from Jayasekara as the referee signalled for half time (SJC 24 – 05 KCK)
Half-Time : St. Joseph’s College 24 – 05 Kingswood College
St. Joseph’s scored the first try of the 2nd half after Ivano White managed to break the defensive line of Kingswood after receiving the ball from just 5 meters away to the try line. Joes managed to build some good phases and they had to work hard for it as Kingswood defended valiantly. Jayasekara with an easy conversion increased the lead for the hosts (SJC 31 – 05 KCK)
Kithnuka registered his 3rd try of the game to make it a hat trick after the hosts once again entered the opposition 22m territory and worked the ball to the left of the field to go over from the corner. White was given the kicking duties this time and he missed the conversion from a hard angle (SJC 36 – 05 KCK)
- Royal outclass Wesley with a solid second half
- St. Peter’s Claims a Convincing Victory Over St. Joseph’s
- Isipathana escape defeat by a whisker against Trinity
- Kingswood College Breaks Four-Year Drought with a Big Win at Bogambara
Thisath Thewnila found the whitewash next for the home team as the forwards managed to dig deep and gain a lot of distance for them. This time the conversion was successful from White (SJC 43 – 05 KCK)
Hemish Gamage produced a dominant run to register the next try as the second row forward showed a lot of pace and Kingswood had no idea how to contain him. White converted the try to bring up the half century for Joes (SJC 50 – 05 KCK)
Kingswood College conceded a penalty in the dying seconds of the game as Gamage took the quick tap and overpowered Kingswood defenders to score his second and the final try of the game. Final conversion attempt of the day was unsuccessful from White. (SJC 55 – 05 KCK)
Full Time : St. Joseph’s College 55 (9T 5C) beat Kingswood College 05 (1T)
NDB Bank Player of the Match : Ivano White (SJC)
St. Joseph’s College : Theshan Kithnuka 15 Points ( 3 Tries), Hemish Gamage 10 Points (2 Tries) , Shehath Malinda 5 Points (1 Try), Senithu Eran 5 Points (1 Try), Bheeshma Jayasekara 6 Points (3 Conversions), Thisath Thewnila 5 Points (1 Try), Ivano White 9 Points (1 Try 2 Conversions)
Kingswood College : Chamod Wickramasinghe 5 Points (1 Try)
