Vidyartha on course for a place in Rugby League Super Round
Vidyartha College have kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the Super Round stage while recording their third successive victory in the Inter-Schools Under-20 ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament.. Last week, they produced another splendid performance and powered their way
to an exciting 13-9 victory in a Group-2 fixture against Science College at Mount Lavinia.
This win has also raised Vidyartha’s hopes of making it to the Super Round as they jumped into third place of the latest points table with the last preliminary round fixture coming up against Isipathana College at the Bogambara Stadium.
In fact, it has been a huge turnaround for Vidyartha this season especially after losing badly against Wesley College (7-38) in their very first game of the tournament at Longden Place.
The turning point in Vidyartha’s remarkable performance was the game against St. Peter’s College where they toppled the former champions 11-7 to create the biggest upset in the current season.
Wesley vs St. Peter’s
Wesley College also joined the race for a place in the Super Round stage of the tournament by forcing a thrilling 17-17 draw in another Group-2 encounter against St. Peter’s College played at Bambalapitiya.
The Wesleyites of course, were on course to register their third win this season at one stage as they were leading 17-12 before conceding a try in the dying moments of the game. Nevertheless, Wesley will be really pleased with their efforts as they moved to second place in the points table ahead of their last preliminary round fixture against Dharmaraja College at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy.
Royal vs St. Joseph’s
Defending champions Royal College produced a magnificent performance to end St. Joseph’s unbeaten record while registering a hard-fought 17-3 victory at Havelock Park.
Even then, Royal looked somewhat under pressure for a good period in the second half and it was during the last few minutes of the game that they showed their class and composure to snatch this game in a spectacular manner. St. Joseph’s played all their cards almost throughout the second half and always looked the side that would score but it never happened against the solid defensive tactics from their opponents.
It was Royal who eventually opened out the game as they came out from their shell to score twice in the space of two minutes to seal the contest in their favour.
Isipathana vs Dharmaraja
Isipathana College virtually secured their place in the Super Round of the league tournament with a morale boosting 26-12 victory against Dharmaraja College in their Group-2 fixture played at Havelock Park. The former league champions are the only unbeaten side in the tournament as they topped the group with four successive victories with an aggregate of 22 points.
Isipathana also ensured another bonus point by scoring four tries in this game with Wewela Pandith, Kavin Tharusha, Shahid Zumri and Kenula Mihisara doing the honours.
Trinity vs Kingswood
Trinity College produced their best performance for the season as they enjoyed a massive 53-6 victory against hometown rivals Kingswood College on their home grounds at Pallekele.
The Trintians, of course, rested some of their key players for this game yet they proved too strong for their opponents as they ran down as many as nine tries with six of them coming during the second half. The only concern for Trinity was that they missed out five conversions, which prevented them from recording the biggest win in the tournament.