Kaveesha kicks Science ‘Maroons’ to an easy win

Dynamic fly half Nadun Kaveesha produced a fine exhibition of place kicking to steer Science College ‘Maroons’ to a convincing 22-7 victory over Old Wesleyites Sports Club (OWSC) in their SLR Nippon Paint Under-24 League Rugby Tournament match played at the Thurstan College Grounds in Colombo yesterday.

Kaveesha, who represented the Science College First XV Team in the recent Inter-Schools ‘A’ Division League Tournament, was in tremendous form as he fired across five superb penalties and converted their solitary try to complete a memorable outing.

However, the Science College ‘Maroons’ Team just could not make use of the advantages they had early in the game and went into half time with a slender 6-0 lead.

After the turnaround, the winners were able to convert their possession into points with number eight Tharusha Vidyanga eventually, breaking the deadlock for the first try of the match in the 51st minute.

OWSC responded almost immediately, and they kept their hopes alive by going over for a push over try under the post after some good passage of play from their forwards in the 56th minute of the game.

But thereafter, OWSC could not get any kind of momentum going forward and were guilty of conceding several penalties to the opposition.

In contrast, Science ‘Maroons’ executed their game plan beautifully with Kaveesha putting the game beyond doubt for his team by converting three back-to-back penalties in the second half.

Meanwhile, in the other two matches of the tournament, Western Province recorded a massive 119-0 victory over Uva Province after leading 51-0 at half time at the Vincent Dias Grounds in Badulla while North Western Province trounced Central Province 56-12 after leading 27-7 at half time in their match played at the Maliyadeva College Grounds in Kurunegala.