Isipatana make Joes see blue with 49-22 thumping  

By a Special Sports Correspondent

Isipatana College crowned themselves as President’s Trophy schools rugby under 19 Knockout Champions when they rattled St. Joseph’s College in a rousing second half display and recorded a punishing 49 points to 22 win in the final played at Royal Sports Complex yesterday (Sunday).

The winners looked solid in the first half running up a 27 points to nil score and finished the game with a total of seven tries, four conversions and two penalties as against three tries, two conversions and a penalty by the Josephians. Isipatana’s speed and power play were a little too hot to handle for the Joes who looked to playmaker and number 8 Navin Marasinghe to turn the game around after the first half blues they suffered.

Tries from Isipatana’s Kenula Mihisara, fly half Naveen Kanishka and hooker Venura Sangeeth proved too much for the Josephians while full back Malith Botheju delivered in the kicking department for the Green Shirts in the first half.

The Josephians had their moments early in the second half with consecutive tries from Marasinghe with the second touchdown underscoring the 107 kg third row forward’s individual brilliance. With the third try coming from flanker Vaidyanathan Joes were hot on the heels of Isipatana with the score reading 27 points to 19 in favour of the team from Havelock Town.

The Joes had some relief when Ruchika Rodrigo booted a penalty in the 57th minute of play which came as the response after a try for Isipatana by Praveen Stephan. But the winners flew past their opponents from there onwards with more tries coming from Stephan (his second), S. Costa and Wewalapandith before the final whistle came from referee Ishanka Abeykoon.