Vidyartha stun top-ranked Peterites in major upset

Vidyartha College have created the first major upset of the 2022 Inter-Schools Under-20 ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament.. Last week they brought down the high-riding St. Peter’s College outfit 11-7 with a stunning performance at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy.

This could be considered as one of the biggest upsets in schools rugby in the recent past although Vidyartha had defeated the Peterites earlier by 32-22 at Bambalapitiya during the 2012 season.

Vidyartha of course, went into this game at the backdrop of some uncertainty as they were thrashed 7-38 by Wesley College in their opening match of the tournament at Longden Place.

In contrast, St. Peter’s took the field with their heads high after having got off to a great start this season where they outplayed Dharmaraja College 27-12 on their home grounds.

But this time the former league champions were in for a nasty shock as they were put under tremendous pressure from the kick-off and struggled to maintain the same momentum against a less fancied opposition before conceding the game.

This result has no doubt opened out the contest in Group-2 with at least four teams now vying for a top two finish to qualify for the Cup Championship segment of the tournament.

St. Joseph’s vs S. Thomas’

St. Joseph’s College survived a fierce late rally from S. Thomas’ College before recording a fascinating 30-28 victory in another ‘A’ Division League match played at Havelock Park.

The Joes went through some anxious moments after the Thomians launched a do-or-die attack to touch down for their third try of the match and reduced the deficit to two points during the dying moments of the contest. However, the decisive conversion from fly half Yehan Bulathsinhala went astray and with that St. Joseph’s managed to scrape through for their second successive win this season and regain the Lady Jayathilaka Shield after a lapse of two years.

Dharmaraja vs Science College

Dharmaraja College recovered from last week’s setback to force a thrilling 15-15 draw to their match against the more fancied Science College outfit at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy.

The Rajans, who suffered a demoralising 12-27 defeat at the hands of St. Peter’s College in their opening match of the season, got their act together well in front of their home supporters to share the honours after a gruelling contest.

Even then, this was a major setback for Science College who looked at one stage would pull off the game leading 7-5 at half time but were never able to dominate the proceedings in the second half. Isipathana vs Wesley Isipathana College produced a fine late rally to beat a spirited Wesley College outfit 10-0 in another thrilling encounter at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.

The team from Havelock Park, who were at the receiving end for most of the time, produced a sheer moment of brilliance during the latter stages to touch down for the only try of the match, which sealed the contest in their favour.

Until then, the Wesleyites had their share of chances of scoring on more than a couple of occasions, but their own mistakes let them down and that eventually cost them the game.

Trinity vs St. Anthony’s

Trinity College managed to keep their unbeaten record intact when they edged out traditional and hometown rivals St. Anthony’s College 25-18 in another absorbing contest played at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy. Both teams went into the last few minutes of the game with the scores level 18-18 in this blockbuster game and the Antonians were reduced to 14-men following a deliberate infringement.

The Trinitians soon pounced on the advantage of an extra player and Anuhas Kodituwakku found an opening to score the match winning try giving fly half Attaab Manzil an easy conversion to seal the contest. Royal vs Kingswood

Defending champions Royal came out with a tremendous performance to score eight tries during their massive 53-0 victory over Kingswood College in their match played at the Royal Complex in Reid Avenue.

Royal certainly displayed the qualities of a true champion outfit as they produced a much better performance overall while warming up for the more important games ahead of them.