Wesley College survived the Zahira traffic holding nerves to beat the latter 32 – 22 in their opening Plate fixture in the Singer Schools Rugby League.
The double blues, who showcased their true essence of rugby in the very first fifteen minutes by scoring three back-to-back, took control of the game from the first minute. But all that subsided when they saw their playmaker Juranpathi lifted off the field due to an injury.
Wesley’s first came off their set pieces as their prop forward Hamidoon went through on the right flag. Hamidoon’s try was followed by their witty center Goonathilake who side-stepped through the falling Zahira defense to score. Wesley’s wing-three Samarathunga followed his team mates success to sprint to a Kutubdeen kick to score the third. Disappointingly skipper Kutubdeen missed out all three kicks (15-0)
Zahira who were fixed to a pick n drive gameplan failed to gain distance in the starting phases with pressure from the Wesley forwards but later found luck as they utilized their three quarters to get distance allowing lock Sabar to score the first. The double blues gifted them the second try when the Wesley prop Zayan was sent to the sin bin for an infringement. Seeing the opportunity available on the penalty inside the 22, skipper Azeem Azmy went over for the second. Skipper Azmy had his kicking boots on as he converted both tries to cut the deficit to a single point. 14-15
Zahira had their luck in the second half when they got the lead for the first time with a successful kick off skipper Azmy in the starting minutes of the second half (17-15). With pressure mounting on to the home team, Wesley tried their luck through their three quarters to win back the lead. Skipper Omar Kutubdeen failed to capitalize in his attempt to score ending up knocking on the ball at the try line.
However Wesley got the lead back in the middle stages of the second half with a magnificent run by Samarathunga who scored right under the posts. His miss at an under the post conversion was disappointing despite them taking the lead. (20-17)
With the game still undecided even at the 60th minute of play Zahira succeeded in getting additional points under their name utilizing their forward maul and allowing Rasiff to break the line of defence to score under the posts. (22-20)
The Zahira skipper Azmy’s cardinal mistake opting to not take the kick right under the posts affected the team adversely as his 35 m kick ended in no man’s land. Wesley got themselves out of the danger zone as skipper Omar Kutubdeen stepped and scored off the penalty advantage in the left corner. Wesley weren’t successful in their conversions yet again. (25-22)
Wesley finally got their deciding try as Samarathunga raced his way for the victory try in the dying stages of the game to bring a double blue victory. The conversion going through, the game ended in Wesley’s favor with Wesley finishing 32-22 in the final whistle.
