St. Joseph’s secure final Super Round spot in Rugby League
St. Joseph’s College have secured the fourth and final Super Round spot of the current Inter-Schools Under-20 ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament. The lads from Darley Road rose to the big occasion and delivered a superlative performance to beat St. Anthony’s College 35-20 and joined the defending champions Royal College, Isipathana College and Wesley College in the race to the league title.
In fact, the Joes performed extremely well in their must-win final game as they ran down seven tries, their best effort undoubtedly this season, to come on par with the table leaders Royal in the final line-up in Group-1. However, St. Joseph’s will have to settle with second place in this group as they had earlier lost to Royal 3-17 in their preliminary round fixture at the Royal Complex.
Nevertheless, St. Joseph’s will be really pleased with their effort as they took the field for this vital game without four of their regular players including Skipper Teran Karunanayake.
Wesley vs Dharmaraja
Meanwhile, Wesley College reached another landmark in schools rugby as they qualified for the Super Round stage with an emphatic 31-12 victory over Dharmaraja College in their last league match played at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy.
The Wesleyites managed to secure the second place in Group-2 with their third victory this season and will look to keep the momentum when the Super Round matches start this weekend.
Isipathana vs Vidyartha
Isipathana College powered their way to a fifth successive victory this season as they edged out the giant killers Vidyartha College 25-23 in a thrilling encounter at the Nittawela Stadium. However, Isipathana’s unbeaten record this season was in real danger at one stage as they were trailing 13-16 at half time following a tremendous first half performance by the home side. But the more experienced former league champions absorbed the pressure beautifully and held their nerves during a tense last few minutes of the game to snatch a dramatic victory by a mere two points. Even then, for Vidyartha it was a real heartbreak as their hopes of playing in the Super Round stage was eventually dashed after delivering some excellent rugby in their earlier three games.
Science vs St. Peter’s
Science College ended their campaign in a spectacular manner as they brought down the former champions St. Peter’s College with a stunning 12-10 victory at the Air Force Grounds in Ratmalana. Both teams were out of contention for the Super Round stage yet, this was a huge achievement for Science College, who were able to record their maiden victory in the tournament.
S. Thomas’ vs Kingswood
S. Thomas’ College had the satisfaction of concluding the league tournament with a smashing 36-8 triumph over Kingswood College at the Nittawela Stadium. After going through a tough early part of the season, the Thomians eventually made it two wins from their last two outings and managed to secure fourth place in Group-1.