Royal kick their way to victory over St. Joseph’s
The gloom delivered to the doorstep of St. Joseph’s matched that which filled the skies overhead as Royal College kicked their way to a 14 (1 try, 3 penalties) – 11 (1 try, 2 penalties) victory over them, at Longden Place yesterday.
Hooker Supun Warnakulasooriya got the scoring started with a try before fullback Nimshan Jayawardene suffocated the Joes with his pitch-perfect place-kicking.
The wet conditions led to several handling errors in the game between St. Joseph’s and Royal College. Pic by Amila Gamage
St. Joseph’s fullback Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya came so close to being the day’s hero himself, but unfortunately his side found itself unable to conjure up palpable magic despite several flashes of brilliance.
The Joes started the encounter enterprisingly, with Kurumbalapitiya unleashed down the left flank of the field to cross the line in the 15th minute of the game for an unconverted try. The joy it induced amongst his sizable sardine-packed group of supporters was to prove short-lived though as Royal soon began their counter offensive.
It commenced with a bout of sustained pressure and before long the assault force from Reid Avenue was intruding at will on Josephian territory. One of these excursions in the 29th minute yielded a scrum near the Joes’ try line and Royal pounced with Warnakulasooriya bundling over for the score.
The Royalists then tightened their chokehold through Jayawardene, who split the bull’s eye with his boot in the 36th and 42nd minutes to send his team into the half leading 11-5.
The kicking was amplified in the second period of the game as St. Joseph’s too got in on the act. Kurumbalapitiya blessed the score line with a thump between the posts in the 60th minute before literally kicking free the fireworks 13 minutes later with another penalty which leveled the scores on 11.Cruelly however, the exploding crackers and renewed hope among the Josephian camp were once again robbed of their meaning with a swipe of Jayawardene’s boot, which turned out to be the most influencing force in a game between two closely-matched teams. Referee A.C. Tennakoon