St. Peter’s meet their Waterloo
View(s):By M. Shamil Amit
St. Peter’s had their unbeaten record in Singer Under 20 Division 1A inter-schools rugby tournament tarnished as they met their waterloo when Trinity overcame them by 35 points to 25 in a fourth round match played at Bambalapitiya yesterday.
Trinity having eased to a comfortable 28-17 at the breather made up their points through two goals, three tries and two penalties to the two goals a try and two penalties scored by St. Peter’s. The hoodoo of winning on the home ground for both teams in recent times has been interesting as St. Peter’s last win at Bambalapitiya was in 2007 and Trinity’s last win at Pallekele was in 2004.
Trinity’s Sanchana Sheik in perfect control, glides through the St. Peter’s defense in their schools rugby encounter which ended the home team’s winning streak. - Pic by Ranjith Perera
Trinity after their shocking defeat to S. Thomas’ last week came back with a vengeance as they meant business by putting up the first score on the board in the third minute through an unconverted try by scrum half Naresh Perera. They increased the lead six minutes later when fly half Tarindra Ratwatte made no mistake with a penalty. But the home side struck immediately to reduce the lead with center Dilanka Perera going over for a try and Jerome Canute added the extra points.
With the game being fought out at a hectic pace it was Trinity who made the scoring in the 20th minute with a penalty booted over by Tarindra before Canute reduced the deficit for St. Peter’s four minutes later also through a penalty as Trinity held on to a one point lead 11-10.
Trinity who has been inconsistent, put in a fine display as they rattled the Peterite defense and succeeded in increasing the lead with second row Sanka Etulgama going over for an unconverted try which was followed by Naresh Perera’s second try of the match to give Trinity a healthy ten point lead (21-10).
It was missed opportunities for St. Peter’s as they lacked the finishing touches to the several successful moves that they made. But they managed to decrease the lead five minutes away from the lemons from a try by prop forward Shenal Abeysekera with Canute adding the extra points.
But even that was short-lived as Trinity flanker Anurada Karunatileke sped his way for an under the post try giving Naresh Perera an easy conversion before the sides changed ends with Trinity leading 28-17. The resumption was going to be a daunting task for the Peterites as they had to first erase the deficit of 11 points. The Peterites however went into the attack and their robust approach saw them earning a penalty for an infringement which Canute booted over with the game six minutes old.
It was missed opportunities for the Peterites in this half too as they were in the attack for the most part but lacked the skill of turning them into points. It took nearly 20 minutes for the next scoring was done which was by Trinity who grabbed the opportunity they got with a right corner flag try by Tarindra Ratwatte and Naresh booting over the conversion. Trinity with that try increased their lead to 15 points (35-20) and with time running out for the Peterites they managed to breach the Trinity defense when winger Praveen de Silva went over for an unconverted try which turned out to be the final scoring of the match giving Trinity an easy 35-25 victory.
Referee: Nizam Jamaldeen.
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