Pathanas second half burst too much for Thoras

By M. Shamil Amit 

Isipathana prevailed in what was expected to be a closely contested affair in their final encounter of the Dialog Schools Rugby League encounter against S. Thomas’ with a comfortable 41 points to 27 win played at Havelock Park, which saw them ending their campaign on a winning note and also with a 100 percent record of seven wins out of seven.

After a closely contested first half with the two teams sharing ten points each, the second half burst by the Green Machines proved to be too much for the Thoras as they succumbed to the sporadic and fast open rugby fished out by the winners.

With the two teams sharing honours with ten points each at the breather, the floodgates opened as the Pathanas went on a scoring spree and accumulated their points through three goals and four tries to the two goals, two tries, and a penalty scored by the Thoras.

Isipathana’s centre Nimantha Sandeepa had a field day, and he turned out to be the hero of the side’s victory as he went on rampage to plant three of the seven tries scored by Pathana and succeeded in booting over a penalty.

Exchanges were even in the first half with Isipathana making the first scoring in the 13th minute with centre Nimantha Sandeepa going for an unconverted try; three minutes later, Thomian skipper and fly half Yehan Bulathsinghalage booted over a penalty offered, which followed with the seaside boy’s going into the lead in the 18th minute with a try by centre Chanuth Eheliyagoda, which was converted by skipper Bulathsinghalage.

However, the lead was short-lived as five minutes later, centre Dinara Wickramaarachchi’s unconverted try for Isipathana made it quits at 12 each, which turned out to be the half time score.

On resumption, the Pathanas, coming into the game with a different game plan, succeeded to score two tries within five minutes, with the first by Nimantha Sandeepa, which was his second of the match, and the other by second-row Abdullah Faizer, while Nimantha Sandeepa succeeded to make one conversion.

The Thomians got their act together, and they too scored back-to-back tries within the space of six minutes, with Chanuth Eheliyagoda and No 8 Mckyle Karunaratne going over for the tribes and skipper Bulathsinghalage being able to make only one conversion, and the score stood at 22 points each.

A penalty try for Isipathana saw them surging ahead, which was followed by Kaveen Tharusha going over for an unconverted try for Isipathana to go into the lead 34-22. The Thomians fought back, succeeding in breaching their opponents defence, with Mckyle Karunaratne going for his second try, which went unconverted. However, centre Nimantha Sandeepa, who went over for his third try of the match, and Avishka Hiran, with the conversion, sealed the game for the Pathanas.

With this win, Isipathana is billed to confront Royal, while St. Peter’s will clash with Trinity in the Super Round matches.

Referee: Kelum Sandaruwan