14 June 2019 10:55 pm Views - 540
By M. Shamil Amit
Wesley College brought an end to St. Joseph’s unbeaten record when they pulled off a stunning 15-13 victory in their Under-19 Inter-Schools League Rugby Tournament second-round match played at Longden Place today (14).
Wesley trailing 5-10 at the breather made up their points through three tries as against the two tries and a penalty scored by St. Joseph’s.
Wesley looked the better team playing with much more understanding and cohesion as they dominated the second half and had their opponents struggling for survival.
Full back Tharusha Jayaweera was Wesley’s hero while Kavindana Perera who scored four tries in the previous match against Isipathana was well marked.
But Tharusha did the honours when he went over for two superb tries while winger Theekshana Vithanage scored the third try for Wesley.
St. Joseph’s opened the scoring in the 14th minute through an unconverted try by winger Tharindu Maduranga.
Six minutes later the Josephians increased the lead with flanker Nehan Perera sprinting nearly 30 metres to score down the right corner flag.
However, both conversions went astray and it proved to be vital for the Josephians in the end.
Wesley came back into the game with a vengeance and succeeded in breaching the Josephian defence with full back Tharusha Jayaweera going over for an unconverted try.
In the very first minute of the second half the Josephians were reduced to 14 players due to a sin-bin.
In the third minute, winger Theekshana Vithanage received a long pass and bolted away for a try to make it 10-10.
The Josephians surged ahead with a penalty booted over by fly half Santhush Algama to make it 13-10.
However, seven minutes before the long whistle, Wesley went into the lead with Tharusha Jayaweera going over for his second try which turned out to be the match winning try.
Referee: Rohan Fernando
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Trinity face uphill task
By Harsha Amarasinghe
Trinity College will face the uphill task of overturning a 17-point first-leg deficit when they take on arch-rivals Royal College in the second leg of the 75th Bradby Shield encounter at the Royal Sports Complex tomorrow (15).
Trinity have made a few changes to their line-up after the 34-17 defeat in Pallekele two weeks ago, as they have brought in fly half Milindu Jayasundara to the first XV in an attempt create more chances.
Former Royal College forward Lennox Calyanarathne though has missed out on a place in the starting line-up and instead been named in the squad as a substitute and is likely to make an appearance in the second half against his former school.
Trinity despite playing well failed to stop Royal from securing such a big lead and on Saturday they will be desperate to make amends against the old foe.
Centre Harsha Samarasinghe and wing three quarter Amitha Kulatunga should be the key players for Trinity in their attempt to turn tables on Royal College.
On the other hand Royal has no pressure having sealed a 17-point lead and they would look to stick to their basics and see this game through.
Second row Fadil Adahan is a crucial player for Royal College especially in set pieces. Royal forwards have been very disciplined in set pieces and it has led to most of their tries.
Captained by Thulaib Hassen, the Royalists have only been beaten just once so far this season while their opponents have been in very poor form coming into this game losing to St. Peter’s last week.
Lehan Gunarathne who touched down twice in the first leg has been named as a substitute surprisingly, with Kalindu Nandila still being the preferred fly-half in the head coach Dushantha Lewke’s set-up.
Royal have dominated the Bradby in the recent years since they won it in 2015. They have won it thrice in the last four years with 2016 being a tie.