Greens maroon Thoras at Longdon Place
A clinical team effort gave defending Schools League Rugby champions Isipathana College a smashing 62-15 win against S. Thomas’ College in a Cup Segment game of the Singer Schools Under-20 League Championship played at Longdon Place yesterday. The Green Shirts scored from a staggering tally of 10 tries and six conversions while leading the halftime comfortably by 31-3 as the Thomians were given the liberty to cross the line twice added with a conversion and a penalty as their points.
Pic by Ranjith Perera
Although the scoring gap would suggest a crushing defeat, the Thomians did not give up through the entire 80 minutes of the game and were quite impressive. Their attack and defence were much more aggressive in comparison to their earlier matches and looked like they really were trying to pull up their socks in the second round of the competition. For the most part the Thomians were camping on their opponent’s 22 metre line but failed to convert all the pressure and hard work into points and the Pathana try-line seemed to be elusive.
The Thomians drew first blood with a penalty from the 22-meter line and few minutes later another penalty was awarded but this time placekicker Dion Dias’s boot wasn’t on target.
In the 15th minute Isipathana responded with a try through their nippy wing-three-quarter Dilan Gallage, who took a fantastic break from the 40metre line and plant the first try left corner flag. Not even three minutes had gone by when Isipathana struck again with a try by their first center Kushan Indunil, who was fed the ball by the fly-half Isuru Kongahawatta, who missed quite a few kicks yesterday, but compensated with a few good breaks and offloads. The lads clad in Green stamped their supremacy by planting three more tries through wing-three-quarter Isuru Gallage, the bulky hooker Nisal Desaka and fullback Rehan de Silva. All three of those tries were true to the usual Pathana format which consisted solid team work and some stellar runs to lead at halftime by 31-3.
Four minutes into the second half and the Pathana mauling machine went over the try-line to add another seven points to the scoreboard. A bit of unwarranted play was emitting from the Pathana pack and Matheesha Sarathchandra, the second row forward, was sent to the sin bin. The Thomians capitalized on this opportunity and scored their first try through centre Ishaaq Jurangpathy, giving a revived feeling of hope to all the Thomian supporters. Doubling that expectation came in another try, again from Jurangpathy who catapulted the Mt. Lavinia boys’ tally to 15 points, their eventual score.
But it was of no avail, the Pathanians had already secured such a big lead and even after substituting most of their players, the fresh legged substitutes crossed over the try-line to make it even more humiliating for the Thomians. Backline players Ranidhu Pramodh and Chamodh Fernando did their team proud by scoring magnificent tries, giving the spectators the true meaning of fast and open rugby. But the try of the day was of Kushan Indunil’s, his second of the game, as the whole Isipathana team contributed with quick offloads, a few scissor runs and one thundering finish to put an end to an exhilarating game of school rugby and keeping the defending champion’s unbeaten tag intact.