‘Thora’ nose through Thurstan

S. Thomas’ – 23 Thurstan – 12

By Rangi Akbar

Thurstan will regret their lethargy in allowing S. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia to score two tries under the posts and the Mt. Lavinia lads nosed through to a 23-12 win in the Inter-School rugby fixture at Police Park yesterday.

The Thomians led 20-5 at the breather. The Thomians gathered their points through a goal, two penalties and two tries while the Thurstanites points consisted of a goal and a try.

The Thomians thrust forward through a Manjit Thammanagama penalty. Ten minutes later Thammanagama blazed through to score under the posts and the blue and black clad players enjoyed an 8-0 lead.

Thurstan caught their opponents on the back foot when they scored a try against the run of play through their skipper and No 8 Sasanka Ariyaratne.

Then came a performance very un-Thomian like when they kept on grassing the ball as if it was greased. Heshan Gunaratne however made a good use of a bad situation when he picked up a loose ball and sprinted irresistibly away to score by the posts (STC 13. Thurstan 5). Burly Thomian Rehan Leelananda was severely bumped and left the field with a nasty head wound.

The Thomians struck again when scrum half Esela De Livera Tennekoon put the finishing touches to a move when a Thurstan player tried to clear the ball and it was smothered by a Thomian. Manjit Thammanagama was on target with his conversion. The Thomians led 20-5 when the teams crossed over for ‘lemons’.

Thurstan showed signs of making a game of it when hooker Sachitha Dananjaya scored. The Thomians replied with a try by link-man Lahiru Wickremasinghe to lead at 20-12. In the dying stages Manjit Thammanagama was successful with a penalty to take the Thomians final tally to 23.

Referee A.C. Tennekoon.

Earlier in the junior game S. Thomas’ beat Thurstan 29-0.