St. Joseph’s down arch rivals St. Peter’s after 16 years
St. Joseph’s began their campaign of Singer Under-20 Schools Rugby League tournament in style with a thrilling 17-10 win over arch rivals St. Peter’s in the match played at Longdon Place yesterday.
It’s a try! A Peterite forward barges through to score. – Pic by Ranjith Perera
The Darley Road boys trailing 0-10 at the breather played their hearts out in the second session when they chalked up 17 points which came off a goal and two tries while the Bambalapitiya lads failed to make any impression in the session having scored two tries in the first session.
In the process the Josephians won against the Peterites after a lapse of 16 years which they achieved under the leadership of Lakashitha Gunaratne and also regained the Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga Memorial Shield.
The drab first session of proceedings saw the Peterites making the first scoring in the seventh minute through a penalty booted over fullback Kevin Dixon.
Even though the Peterites dominated play for most part of the first half they failed to make any headway before succeeding to penetrate the opponents defence five minutes away from the short whistle with Dixon doing the honours when he went over for a try and then made the conversion.
The resumption saw the Josephians coming into the game with a different game plan giving the Peterites some anxious moments. They went into attack and made the scoring in the first minute with flanker Shehan Bopearachchi barging his way down the left corner flag for a try.
The Peterites threw away their opportunities of increasing the lead when they fluffed two easy kickable penalties almost opposite the post in the sixth and 14th minutes.
However the Josephians undeterred played with better understanding and succeeded to minimize the lead in the 20th minute with a under the post try scored by prop forward Stephen Gregory which gave full back Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya an easy kick at goal. This enabled them to take a slender two points lead at 12-10.
The Peterites camp seemed to be unsettled as they went on changing players at regular intervals. The Josephians took advantage of this set back to put their opponents under pressure.
Wing three quarter Romesh Priyankara sent the Josephians supporters wild as he put the issue beyond doubt for the Darley Road boys with a spectacular try by the right corner flag which sealed the game and also enabled them to regain the Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga Memorial Shield after a lapse of 16 years.