Defending champions Royal roars back into contention
Royal College are back in contention for the Inter-Schools Under-20 ‘A’ Division League Rugby title. Last week, the defending champions produced an improved performance to beat their traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College comprehensively 20-8 in their Group-1 encounter at the Royal Sports Complex in Reid Avenue.
Their success also had a great amount of significance as they were able to retain the Michael Gunaratne Trophy for the fourth successive year and kept their hopes alive of reaching the Super Round Segment of this shortened league tournament.
After their shock defeat at the hands of Trinity College last week at the same venue, Royal looked more organised as they executed their game plan to near perfection through their heavier set of forwards. The standout player for Royal was once again their Vice-Captain Kaveen Sasanga who touched down twice to increase his tally of tries to five this season while scrum half Hansaka Higgoda was always a threat to the opposition with his smart work from the base.
St. Joseph’s vs Trinity
St. Joseph’s College continued with their unbeaten record as they edged out Trinity 20-15 in another Group-1 fixture played at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
The Josephians got their act together well from the kick-off and made a flying start as they scored both tries early in the game to build up a healthy 17-8 lead at the break. Centre Anuhas Kodituwakku continued his good form this season and powered his way to score another try for Trinity, but it proved to be too late as the Joes held on determinedly to snatch the game with a close five-point margin.
Isipathana vs St. Peter’s
Isipathana College also kept their unbeaten record intact with a morale boosting 29-17 victory over St. Peter’s College in their important Group-2 encounter played at Havelock Park.
Isipathana of course, did not have a great start to the contest and they looked somewhat scrappy early on but picked up their rhythm beautifully in the second half to turn the game in their favour. The former champions took a 12-7 lead at half time, but it was their second half performance that really made the difference despite playing with 14-men for almost half an hour.
In fact, three of their five tries were scored in the second half as they ran circles around the Peterite defence with Venura Kodagoda, Soorya Dodangoda, Mesanda Rashvida and Tharindu Wewalapanditha crossing the whitewash. For the Peterites, now it will be a daunting task to reach the Super Round segment of the competition having already lost two games with the clash against Wesley and Science College coming up.
Wesley vs Science College
Wesley College bounced back into recognition with a dominant performance against Science College in their Group-2 fixture played at Longden Place. The Wesleyites sealed the contest in their favour even before the short whistle while scoring four early tries and also kept their chances alive of making it to the Super Round Segment of the league tournament with a bonus-point victory.
Vidyartha vs Dharmaraja
Vidyartha College produced another outstanding performance to beat their hometown rivals Dharmaraja College 17-8 in another Group-2 match played at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy.
Vidyartha, who enjoyed a narrow 7-0 lead at half time, came back strongly in the latter stages to turn the game in their favour while scoring a crucial try and firing across a penalty.
St. Anthony’s vs Kingswood
St. Anthony’s College recorded their first win of the season when they trounced Kingswood College by a massive margin of 57-7 in their Group-1 fixture played at the Nittawela Stadium.
This was also the highest score in the tournament so far as the Antonians beat Royal’s previous best effort of 53-0 against Kingswood in Colombo.