Manoharan kicks STC over the moon

Thomian player Anuruddha Wilwara on his way to plant a try. Pic by Ranjith Perera

The late Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ will not be able to hold a candle to the S. Thomas’-Isipathana Milo All Island Under 20 knock-out final at the Royal Complex yesterday as the Thomians clinched the cliffhanger 22-19 as a result of a final minute penalty by Arjun Manoharan.

The Thomians were runners-up in the just concluded league behind champions Royal and they were knock-out champions in 1994.

In the dying stages of the game Isipathana fired two penalties by Prasad Devendra which put them very much in the picture but the Thomians led at 19-14. Just when the game was about to be over the green shirted lads scored a fantastic try through skipper Niroshan Fernando to make the score 19 all.

Then surfaced the fantastic penalty by Arjun Manoharan which cast a pall of doom over Isipathana and sent the thousands of blue and black supporters into raptures of delight as the Thomians nosed to this 22-19 victory.

Not to take off the glamour for Isipathana they led 8-7 at the breather and it took loads of sheer Thomian grit to ward off the marauding Isipathanians.

Isipathana missed a couple of penalties early in the game which would have helped them to turn the game in their favour. The culprit for this was Malik Jumad!

S. Thomas’ scored in the 26th minute of the first half when Arjun Manoharan scored a try warding off several defenders which he himself goaled to put the Thomians in the lead at 7-3.

The tit-for-tat scoring continued when Isipathana struck next through flanker Uthpala Seneviratne and Isipathana led 8-7 at lemons.

The game restarted with a lot of tension and amidst all this Arjun Manoharan missed a penalty much to the dismay of the Thomian supporters and to the delight of the Isipathana supporters.Then came the showpiece of the game when center Anuruddha Wilwara side stepped his way through a host of defenders to score in the 60th minte. Arjun Manoharan converted and the Thomians led 14-8.
S. Thomas’ struck again through an unconverted try by Roshenka Kodituwakku.

Then followed the melodrama which saw the Thomians scraping though at 22-19 due to the Manoharan penalty, after being 19 all! Referee Priyantha Gunaratne.