St. Aloysius pip Richmond in annual rugby Big Match

St. Aloysius’ Rugby Team celebrate with the Trophy

St. Aloysius’ College, Galle staged a remarkable late rally to snatch a thrilling 24-16 victory over traditional rivals Richmond College in the 27th annual Inter-Schools Under-19 rugby encounter played at the BOI Grounds in Koggala.

St. Aloysius’ also went on to retain the T. V. Sumanasekara Trophy for the third successive year as they collected their points from two goals and two tries while Richmond managed to score only a solitary goal and three penalties.

Even then, St. Aloysius’ came under tremendous pressure early in the game as Richmond took a slender 7-5 lead at half time and were looking to regain the Trophy after a lapse of seven years having last emerged victorious in 2016.

In fact, Richmond did all the hard work initially and were well on course to a memorable triumph as they built up a commanding 16-10 lead going into the last few minutes of the game.

However, in a dramatic turn of events, St. Aloysius’ found their momentum and scored two back-to-back tries shortly before the final whistle to snatch the lead and seal the Big Match in their favour.

Man-of-the-Match Mayan Nurad completely changed the complexion of the game as he dazzled with two magnificent tries against the run of play and St. Aloysius’ converted both tries to make the final scores 24-16. Earlier, Richmond opened the scoring with a converted try before St. Aloysius’ scored their first try through Milindu Shamika to trail by two points at the interval.

Richmond further increased their lead as they fired across three important penalties while St. Aloysius’ kept their hopes alive with the second try from Sithum Induwara.

St. Aloysius’ have certainly dominated the Big Match series over the years, and this was the 14th occasion that they had triumphed with Richmond winning nine fixtures and four matches ending in a draw.

No doubt, St. Aloysius’ started the game as the favourites as this year they were vying for honours in the Division One Segment ‘B’ League Tournament along with Thurstan College, Maliyadeva College, Lumbini College, Ananda College and Piliyandala Central.

In contrast, this season, Richmond were battling out in the Division One Segment ‘C’ League Tournament along with Nalanda College, Devapathiraja College, Sumangala College, Panadura, Siri Piyarathana College and Bandaranaike Central College.

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