Royal pulls the stunner of the season

Royal coming in as underdogs did the impossible when they outwitted defending champions St Peter’s by 17-12 in their Singer Division 1A inter-schools rugby encounter played at the Royal Complex ground in Reid Avenue yesterday. The Royalists having led 10-5 at lemons accumulated their points through a goal and two tries as against a goal and a try to the Peterites.

This loss puts defending champs St Peter’s on the back foot as their other two main rivals Trinity and Kingswood have lost only one game as against the two by them. Unless something dramatic happens in the coming weeks the league title is left for a fight between the two Kandy sides Trinity and Kingswood.

But this win for Royal was more or less a morale booster for the upcoming encounter against arch rivals Trinity which is scheduled to take place on June 14. The winning margin for Royal would have been more if not for the penalties that were offered were not kicked astray.

Two were within kicking range in front of the posts and this was the same mistake they made in their earlier games. Centre Duminda Attygala fluffed the first in the fourth minute of play which was a sitter, but four minutes later Royal made amends with flanker Asif Bari going over for an unconverted try.

The Peterites made a blunder by depending on No 8 Ishan Noor who was a marked player as they kept on passing the ball to him. Royals’ chance of increasing the lead did not take place as the second penalty offered, another sitter, was fluffed this time by full back Falil Musheen. But they had the Petes under control and were in their territory for the major part.

Their attack proved successful as prop forward Shamir Fajudeen sent the Royal supporters wild with a push over try in the 20th with again the kick at goal going astray. The Petes smarting from this made sporadic moves and though they missed some scoring opportunities they managed to succeed in the nick of time for lemons when hooker Lahiru Kumara crept through from a five metre scrum for a try as referee Dilroy Fernando blew the short whistle.

The second half was a ding dong battle with the two sides sharing the honours and it took as much as 33 minutes for any scoring to be done. That was when Royals centre Shamil Ahmed ran through the Pete defense for an under the post try with second centre Shailendra Chandrasegara adding the extra points to give the home side a 17-5 lead.

Time was catching up for the Petes as they were just a few minutes away from the long whistle and in a do or die effort they succeeded to penetrate their opponents defense with a try from centre Gerald Canute and full back Harsha Weerakkody doing the finishing touches.

Even though the Peterites decreased their lead it was going to be tough from saving them from defeat as the time left for play was the hitch. But Royal succeeded in keeping their opponents at bay which saw them coming out victorious and inflicting the second defeat of the Peterites this season and to record their fourth win.