Even St. Peter’s could not block the Royal charge
After an intense and vigorous battle Royal College emerged victorious over St. Peter’s College by 36-25 and extended their unbeaten tag in a Cup segment match of the Singer Schools Under-20 League Rugby Championship played at Bambalapitiya yesterday.
A Royal player is well tackled by a Peterite in a thrilling game of rugby - Pic by Ranjith Perera
After scoring from six tries and three conversions Royal coach Sanath Martis would have had a soft corner to his former team, St. Peter’s, who scored from five unconverted tries. Both teams were locked at 10 points each at halftime.
With the win Royal’s hopes of laying their hands again on to the Singer Schools League Championship Trophy gets closer making their final Cup segment game against defending champions Isipathana College, a deciding and interesting battle.
Both teams utilized their bulky backs and speedy forwards to produce some stellar tries but it was the home side that drew first blood through a try from their agile center Nishon Perera to put St. Peter’s in front at the sixth minute. Sandesh Jayawickrema who did the kicking duties for the Peterites, had a bad day missing the conversion – first of his many in addition to two golden opportunities that came in the ways of penalties.
The Royalists struggled to put points on the board and faltered at the try line but at the 20th minute no lock Chandula Jayasundara brought hope back in to the hearts of their fans by equalizing with an unconverted try.
St. Peter’s was quick enough to respond with an unconverted try through centre Kamesh Fernando as the first half saw both teams struggling to slip past their opponent’s defence and convert their efforts into points. But their attempts were nevertheless impressive with some smart rugby being played. Right before the halftime the infamous Royal rolling maul struck and planted a try on the far right corner and the man with the ball was none other than the dynamic hooker Supun Warnakulasuriya.
After lemons, with the deadlock of scored at 10-all Royal came back with fire and didn’t even wait for the Peterites to settle as winger Mahima Gamage crossed the line to score a try, and the skilled youngster Ovin Askey, who went on to convert three tries in total, added the two points. The Royalist added more pressure on the home side by taking possession of the ball for most part of the game and stayed in the opposition’s 22 metre. Royal skipper Bhanuka Gamage then whizzed past the Peterite defence to score the fourth try of his team. Not a minute later Royal’s hard working scrumhalf Ashok Vijekumar hit a gap and the ball to the outside centre Shawqat Lahir, who had the legs and guts to add a beautiful finish to a well executed try. The Royalists further increased their lead with a bit of smart rugby and scored through flanker Keshan Pieris.
The Peterites made a sudden retaliation when their skipper Kevin Dixon created a gap and quickly made an offload to Nishon Perera who went over the try line for the second time. The last ten minutes of the game became highly intense, despite Royal the lead. The Peterites did not give up and played to their fullest potential to the last drop while producing a beautiful try by some fresh legs, with centre Diyath Isuru making the finishing touch before the game came to a close 36-25 in favour of Royal.
- Referee Dinka Peiris