Peterites emerge league champions after 13 years
St. Peter’s College produced some outstanding rugby to emerge undisputed Inter-Schools Under-19 ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament champions for 2023.
The unbeaten Peterites rallied around magnificently and overcame the defending champions Isipathana College 28-17 in the Super Round segment league decider played at Bambalapitiya.
St. Peter’s stuck to their basics and proved their supremacy as they collected their points from one goal, three tries and two penalties after leading 15-10 at half time while Isipathana managed only two goals and a penalty.
Action from the match between St. Peter’s and Isipathana
The Peterites also brought an end to a 13-year long wait to have last emerged ‘A’ Division League Tournament champions way back in 2010 under the captaincy of Keith Gurusinghe.
In fact, this was a memorable occasion as they led from the start to the finish and touched down on four occasions with a tactical performance where their defensive structure was even more effective throughout this absorbing contest.
The only moment that Isipathana thought that they could pull off this game was when they came into the reckoning twice shortly before half time to make it 10-15 and later in the second half when they reduced the deficit to 17-20.
But on both occasions, St. Peter’s handled the pressure quite beautifully and were patient in their attack and were eventually rewarded for some excellent rucking and support play, which was the key factor in their success.
The other significant difference between the two teams was that the Peterites were more dynamic in executing their touch kicks and always had a territorial advantage with fly half and Player-of-the-Match Windya de Mel making a fine impact with
Action from the match between St. Anthony’s and Royal (Pic by Sudath Nishantha and courtesy ThePapare.com)
his accurate kicks. The Television Match Official (TMO) certainly played a huge role in this game as the on-field referee Ishanka Abeykoon had to go upstairs to confirm two of the four tries scored by the home side.
On both occasions the TMO Irshad Cader made the precise decision, which of course, helped the cause of St. Peter’s with Dulaj Navodya and Dineth Ranasinghe as the beneficiaries. But it was speedy wing three quarter Yumeth Shehara who gave St. Peter’s the early lead with a brilliant try in the sixth minute and followed up with a vital penalty in the first half.
With the Peterites leading by just three points (20-17), Kushan Tharindu probably scored the decisive try for the winners when he added the finishing touches to an excellent three-quarter move. Tharindu missed the conversion but a few minutes later he landed a 25-metre penalty to increase the lead to 28-17 and put the issue beyond doubt.
Royal v St. Anthony’s
Meanwhile, Royal College brought an end to the current Inter-Schools Under-19 ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament in style with an emphatic 37-14 victory over St. Anthony’s College in their Super Round segment last game played at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy.
The lads from Reid Avenue also had the satisfaction of claiming the runners-up spot of the league tournament as they beat the Antonians with a bonus-point to finish with an impressive total of 37 points from eight matches.
In fact, Royal and Isipathana College were level with 37 points each at the completion of the Super Round segment, but the former took the second spot by virtue of having defeated the same opponents 22-17 earlier in the league tournament.
Royal continued their momentum and underlined their consistency once again as they collected their points from three goals, two tries and two penalties after having led 15-0 at half time.
Despite performing away from home, Royal dished out the same brand of rugby, which they have produced throughout the season, as they used their rolling maul to good advantage with three of their five tries coming during the latter stages of the game.
In fact, the home side made a superb comeback after the break as they reduced the deficit to a mere four points (14-18) at one stage after they had scored the second try of the match.
But thereafter, Royal never allowed any room for their opponents to stage another comeback and went on to score three back-to-back tries through Afeef Akram, Kavinash Srikanth and Thineth Gamage. In addition, full back and place-kicker Nabil Yehiya gave another splendid performance by converting three tries and putting over two penalties.
For the Antonians it turned out to be a disappointing end as they lost both their Super Round segment games very badly despite finishing fourth in the final points table.
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