By M. Shamil Amit

(Daily Mirror) - It was a narrow escape for S. Thomas’ in their third match against unbeaten Science College, in which they prevailed with a thrilling 30 points to 26 win in the match played at the Air Force ground in Ratmalana today.

The Thomians, having taken a 13-7 lead at the breather, accumulated their points from a goal, four tries, and a penalty, while Science made up their points through three goals and a try.

The Thomians were the first to put up the points on the scoreboard in the sixth minute with their No. 8 Mckyle Karunaratne going over for an unconverted try, but Science struck back three minutes later to go into the lead with their deputy skipper and full-back Dilruwan Perera going over for a try, which he himself converted.

From there on, the two sides shared honours before the Thomians surged ahead in the 17th minute, with centre Senishka Liyanagunawardena going over for another unconverted try for them to lead 10-7.

With a few minutes left for the short whistle to be blown, the seaside boys increased the lead with a penalty booted over by skipper and a fly-half by Yehan Bulathsinghalage, which put the score at 13-7 in favour of the Thomians.

On resumption, the Science outfit went into the attack and, with some sporadic moves, succeeded in breaching the Thomian defence, with Dilruwan Perera going over for his second try of the match in the sixth minute, which he himself converted.

But the Thomians, playing with more cohesion, gave their opponents some torrid moments, and they succeeded in scoring back-to-back tries within the space of six minutes, with the first by centre Senishka, which was his second of the match, and flanker Tieshya Aluvihara, while fly-half Yehan was able to make only one conversion.

But Science, coming back with a do-or-die effort, also replied with back-to-back tries within the space of nine minutes, with prop forward going over for both tries and Dilruwan making one conversion as Science closed in with a difference of four points (26–30).

This followed an unfortunate incident as, in the dying stages of the match, a try scored by Science was disallowed, and with the final whistle being blown, the supporters of the Science team manhandled the referee and linesman.

Referee: Ishanka Abeykoon

Pix by: Kushan Pathiraja