Pathana beat Royal and the rolling maul
Isipathana gunned down Royal to keep their League title hopes alive ahead of the decisive match against S. Thomas' in the coming week - Pix by Amila Gamage
In a battle of forwards and backs, Isipathana College finally found the remedy to counter the unfathomed rolling maul of Royal College. They thus stretched their unbeaten streak with another 28-14 victory in a Cup Segment game of the Singer Schools Under-20 League Championship played at Longden Place yesterday.
By countering the unpredictable opponents, Royal, Isipathana won a crucial match in the penultimate week of the league competition, and regained the Major Milroy Fernando Trophy.
The game was thrice locked evenly and Isipathana became the first to breach the deadlock at all three occasions. They led the halftime by 14-7 and scored from four converted tries, inclusive of a penalty try. Royal scored off two converted tries — both aided by their armour, the rolling maul.
The game was all about the styles of play of both sides — Isipathana’s traditional running game and Royal’s trademark rolling maul. To counter each other, mistakes were heavily committed by both sides. In another aspect the game was also a battle between the two skippers — Isipathana’s Sumudu Rankothge and Royal’s Nikhil Gunadheera — in which the winning skipper prevailed scoring two tries. Both sides had their moments of glory as well as stressful sessions and when the match was locked at 14-all midway of the second half, the pressure was more on the Green Shirts while Royal almost had the game moving towards their court, if not for committing some crucial mistakes.
Centre Rankothge and his team started off with a bang but the Gunadheera-led Royal side was canny as always. Royal defended well and turned Isipathana’s chances into their advantage by transforming into the rolling maul whenever possible. But the way Isipathana countered them portrayed that they have heavily calculated their opponent’s pros and cons.
From nil-all Rankothge took the initiative to give Isipathana with the team’s first try. Fullback Gayan Wickramaratne, who had a hundred percent success rate with his kicks yesterday, converted as the Green Shirts led 7-0. Minutes later Royal continued their attack with the rolling maul but Isipathana managed to break it almost all the time, apart from once, in which Gunadheera took the ball beyond the try-line. With fly-half Ovin Askey’s conversion, from a difficult angle off the left flank, Royal equalled.
As much as Royal tried their luck with the rolling maul, Isipathana too attempted to shackle their opponents by moving the ball swiftly through their three-quarters. At one occasion they collectively managed to run past the Royal defence as Rankothge touched down for the second time far right. Wickramaratne made a hard conversion look easy as Isipathana took the lead again 14-7 and held on for over ten minutes until halftime.
Chief Guest Dian Gomes hands Isipathana skipper Sumudu Rankothge the Major Milroy Fernando Trophy
The battle was intense for almost ten minutes after resumption as Royal tried hard to penetrate Isipathana with the rolling maul, but was held within their 22. In a sudden change of plans Royal decided a make a breakaway and breach the Isipathana defence, which they did rightly after centre Mahima Gamage landed under the posts. Askey made his second kick perfectly to help Royal equal the score at 14-all, as Isipathana were thrown into heavy pressure.
Royal had everything coming their way but did not have the perfect finish. Askey had the opportunity to put Royal ahead off a penalty but fluffed a straightforward kick shifting the pressure off from their opponents. Taking the initiative from there Isipathana changed the possession of the ball from their own 22 and worked neatly to give centre Ravindu Padmashanka to touch down. Wickramaratne’s conversion put Isipathana again in the lead 21-14 with five more minutes to go. In a similar move, minutes later, Isipathana almost scored a spectacular try but referee Dinka Peiris handed them a penalty try after a Royal player tackled down an Isipathana opponent without the ball in his hand. Wickramaratne’s conversion sealed the game for Isipathana.
