Despite muddy conditions underfoot, Isipathana executed a game plan filled with crisp passes and blazing runs, to walk away 26-18 winners, against St. Joseph’s College, at the Royal Sports Complex yesterday.
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| Isipathana No 8 Arun Kumara pulls a heavy weight, but is over the tryline to post the second for his school. (Pic Ranjith Perera) |
The score line does not fully reflect the dominance of Isipathana, who had a stranglehold on the match through all of the first and much of the second half. Their tries came from Winger Uditha Tharanath, No.8 Arun Kumar, Scrum Half A. Costa and Full Back Sithum Chathusanka, while the Joes were buoyed by the efforts of No.8 Jason Melder and three-quarter Stephan Gregory.
Isipathana struck early through Tharanath, with only 10 minutes on the clock, a darting run through an already disorganized Josephian defence, which was constantly flat-footed during the early exchanges. The ensuing conversion attempt however, was wide of the mark.
The Joes promised a good fight when Rehan Thiyagarajah belted over a penalty five minutes later, but Isipathana quickly vanquished any thought of that a few minutes later. From a lineout Isipathana worked the ball to the right of the field before, Kumar, who was a constant worry for the Joes’ defence, burst through the back line for a try, which was converted by Costa.
At 12-3, St. Joseph’s was beginning to feel the pressure and was guilty of an number of unforced errors. Not so for Isipathana, which was exhibiting impeccable handling skills even though the ball was coated in a thin layer of mud. They quickly exploited the gaps in the Josephian defence to record another try through Costa in the 38th minute.
Isipathana nearly extended the lead at the brink of halftime, but Kumar dropped the ball right before crossing the line. Coming out for the second half, St. Joseph’s was a lot more sensible with its defence and thwarted numerous scoring opportunities of the opponents. By managing to frustrate Isipathana, the Joes began to grow in confidence and used their superior size to score in the 60th minute, Jason Melder powerfully thrusting himself over the line.
However, Chathusanka quickly darted over the line a little while later to restore order and promptly seal the result. Nevertheless, both Gregory and Melder hit back with tries of their own to highlight the fact that although Isipathana was the far superior team, they sometimes are too eager to take their foot off the pedal.
Referee D.Nimal |
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