Second half rampage by the Lions sent the Kingsmen of Kingswood College to the gallows beating the hometown rivals 58 points to 25.
The oldest fixture of the country came alive in its 109th year at the Pallekelle last evening with a heavily wounded Trinity College taking on Kingswood College who also suffered injuries mercilessly over the past week.
An encounter which looked to go down to the wire with the scores at lemons reading 17-19 in favor of the hosts took an abrupt turn with the Lions hitting the gas pedal to take the score to a mammoth stand of 58. Skipper Isuru Rangala portrayed his best performance for the season justifying his captaincy as Trinity enacted a Captain & Co. routine to counter their hometown rivals with the usual glitz from the very reliable Saranga Gunathilake.
Famous for their first phase scoring, the hosts started matters in style with first time starter Ayesha Edirisinghe’s chip ‘n’ chase proving successful as he scored his first right under the posts. With the easy conversion for Saranga Gunathilake Trinity had made their opening statement (7-0).
The visitors reacted instantly with the wise decision of counterpart skipper Reeza Raffaideen’s as he opted to go for the posts on a 22m penalty which he kicked through to open the scoring for the Kings (7-3). Kingswood, the momentum with them, took the lead right after the restart as flank Kasun Wimalaweera stepped inward picking the gap to score the first try for the men in red (7-8). Raffaideen was spot on and extras were added. (10-7).
Trinity didn’t let loose the grip as they did in the previous instances as they replied with two back to back tries. A 5 meter lineout saw Trinity utilizing their forward maul to go past the try allowing Rahul Karunathilake to touch down. The latter came through a 5 meter penalty in Trinity’s attacking 22 where smart thinking by skipper Rangala took the quick tap and made his way single handedly to the try line. Saranga was successful enough only to convert one of the two tries. (19-10)
Just before lemons was called by the referee, it was Kingswood who struck back with skipper Raffaideen scoring when the visitors put one of their set pieces to use and later ended up converting the try to cut the deficit to just two points at the half break (17-19)
Half Time Trinity 19 3T 2C to Kingswood 17 2T 2C 1P
Kingswood had a perfect second half start as skipper Raffaideen kicked a penalty through in the very first minute of play to get the lead back on his side (20-19).
Trinity started their play in style with skipper Rangala finding himself over the try line for his second through a rolling maul. Thushila Perera got the conversion done and added the extras (26-19). The skipper was followed up by his subordinates as quick hands by scrum half Anuka Boyagoda saw him offloading to Ryan Weerakoon to score on the outside for a converted try (33-19).
The Kings were lucky enough to get one more try on board as skipper Reeza Raffaideen had the luxury of placing his hand on an open ball inside the try line. (25-33)
Saranga kicked another 30 meter penalty to take Trinity off the danger zone as the scoreline started to drift away (25-36).
Kingswood’s fitness was put to test as Trinity started running circles around the Kingsmen scoring back to back tries. Deputy skipper Sachintha Dissanayaka’s offload to Ayesha Edirisinghe allowed him to cover almost 20 meters side stepping inside to score his second which was converted by Gunathilake. (43-25)
As Ryan Weerakoon crossed over for his solo try shoving off five oncoming defenders on his way, full back Saranga Gunathilake performed the closing rituals with a couple of tries. Saranga crossed over for his first through an offload from Ayesha Edirisinghe and the next coming through a chip and chase which he executed successfully. All three tries went unconverted and Trinity College finished at 58 points to retain the hill capital crown for the seventh successive occasion.
Trinity skipper Rangala & Co had a good game after a lapse of four weeks and it will something for the fans & players to cherish. Kingswood’s lack of supportive play prevented skipper Reeza Reffaideen and Faris Ali to move forward in points. Both teams will have positives to take from the game and it was a packed audience at Pallekelle with support reeling in from both parties.
ThePapare names Isuru Rangala as the player of the match for his dedicative role as captain and for his two tries.
Aruna Rankothge refereed the game.
Points breakdown
Trinity 58 ( 9T 5C 1P )
Tries Scored by : Ayesha Edirisinghe (2), Isuru Rangala (2), Saranga Gunathilake (2), Ryan Weerakoon (2), Rahul Karunathilake
Conversions: (4) by Saranga Gunathilake and by Thushila Perera
Penalty by Saranga Gunathilake
Saranga Gunathilake 21 points
Kingswood 25 (3T 2C 2P)
Tries by Reeza Raffaideen(2), Kasun Wimalaweera
Conversions Reeza Raffaideen (2), & Penalties (2) Reeza Raffaideen
Reeza Raffaideen 20 points
