Isipatana and Trinity call the shots during exciting second week of rugby

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Trinity College survived some scares at the Bogambara Stadium last Sunday when they were forced to defuse a late charge by Vidyartha College during the last ten minutes of their inter-school league rugby tournament match which the former won 20-10.

The score line indicates a comfortable win for the ‘Bradby Boys’, but if there was anything to go by in terms of having it easy Trinity could only control proceedings in the first half where they earned two tries; one which came their way as a penalty try. This was because Vidyartha, also known as Tigers in School rugby, were penalized for collapsing a maul. The sport of Rugby union, unlike in the past, has seen the introduction of many new rules to aid the smooth flow of the game and schoolboys would do well if they care to watch more rugby and educate themselves about the dos and don’ts of rugby.

The issue with Vidyartha was that they took far too long to settle down in the game. Trinity on the other hand looked a little overconfident but that worked to their advantage in the first half. But this writer is not suggesting that the red, yellow and blue jerseyed ruggerites didn’t sweat for their points. They did and they earned the first half for themselves with the other try scored by Attab Manzil and brilliant display by their forwards.

Trinity played well in the early minutes of the second half and pressurized Vidyartha into a defensive mode. Their third try of the game came in the 52nd minute of the game when hooker D. Watagoda crashed over for a try. The score read 17-0 at this stage and it looked as if Trinity were going to walk away with this match with ease and leave Vidyartha in tears. But the composure of the game changed when the host team set their line in motion. The Tigers looked dangerous towards the end whenever they ran their three-quarters. Winger Deshan Balasuriya punched two holes in the Trinity defense during this intense last ten minutes of the game. Their kicker let them down badly when handling the conversions. Rugby critics formed the opinion after the game Vidyartha would have pulled off this game if there was five more minutes on the clock.

Vidyartha College players attempt to stop a maruading Trinity College forward in their inter-school rugby match which the latter won 20-10.

The same sort of situation or game was witnessed at Mount Lavinia when S. Thomas’ College hosted Isipatana College. The Green Shirts had it their way with some fast running rugby which the Thomians struggled to negotiate. Winger and kicker Rinesh Silva was all over the park and even contributed with a try when he jinxed his way over the line showing a burst of speed and some fancy footwork which foxed the Thomian defence. He is both fast and has the ability to create that space between him and the defense to run through and score at will. His kicking prowess too came in for praise as he landed three conversions and a penalty. The other try scorers for the winners were Kalindu Shenal (2) and Gamage.

The Thomians came back strongly in the latter stages of the game and earned tries through Mohommed Hakeem and Shenal Fernando. Kicker Yehan Bulathsinhalage was accurate with the two conversions and a penalty in the second half.

There was another hotly contested game last weekend where D.S Senanayake got the better of St. Anthony’s College; winning the game 23-19 at Pallakelle Stadium.

Zahira College, like D.S Senanayake, justified their promotion to Division 1 Segment A rugby with a memorable win over Dharmaraja at Bogambara Stadium. The lads from Maradana won 18-15.

In the other games worked off during the weekend Joes edged out Wesley 3-0 while Royal College ran over Science College to post a run-way 45-10 win with the winners producing seven tries.