Joe’s Saints were marching allover
Josephian centre Vinul Fernando evades a Peterite while moving forward - Pic by Anuradha Bandara
There were many at the ground and, no doubt, a countless number of outsiders, who would have wished to go marching in with the Josephian Saints as they cruised to a relatively comfortable win over St. Peter’s at Bambalapitiya yesterday.
The scoreline gave the correct message. It was 25 to the winners (three tries, two conversions, two penalties) and 10 to the hometown boys (two unconverted tries). At the halftime, the Joes were ahead 10-0.
This probably fell short of the expected block buster. The game opened with the Joes making the moves, and the Peterites struggling to stay in touch. After sometime, the Peterites settled down and indulged in a couple of threatening moves. However, the Joes threw almost every man jack into defending their line and accomplished that splendidly.
But towards the end of the opening half, the Joes were back in control. Winger Sajith Silva converted a simple penalty to break the ice. Buoyed by that, they went on to cross the Peterite line. Gihan Perera made a classic Number Eight break. Scrum half Channa Asoka linked up, then fly-half Chathura Seneviratne foxed the defence with a long pass to winger Sajith Silva, who sped away down the left and then cut in under the posts. His conversion made it 10-0.
This half was, probably, 60-40 in favour of the winners. Silva put his team further in front by putting over another penalty (13-0). The Joes were now in attacking mode. A nice move by the backs followed. there was a long pass to centre Gemunu Chathiya, who sent Silva on his way to the try line. This was not converted and, at 18-0, the Joes were really sitting pretty.
In a desperate throw of the dice, Peterite skipper Diyath Fernando was able to squeeze his way over the line after his forwards had kept hammering at the defence, while hovering around the goal-line. Fly half Sivaraj, who didn’t have a great day, missed the conversion. The Peterites kept attacking and were rewarded when Diyath Fernando touched down once more. This too was not added to. It was 18-10, and that euphoria of the Joes seemed to be a thing of the past.
The Joes realising that things were hotting up, redoubled their efforts to seal the deal. There was a wonderful run by winger Sahan Akila, who received the ball off a long pass. His speed was too much to counter. The second half was dominated by the Josephians. They passed the ball around and kept pressing forward and looked extremely threatening. When they were defending, they turned into attack by using the high ball tactic.
Fly half Chathura Seneviratne, prop Sven Muller and No.8 Gihan Perera had a good game. Skipper Diyath Fernando scored twice but some of the others disappointed. Star centre Theekshana Dissanayake was well-marked. On the occasion that he got away, he hogged the ball and was brought down. It was a question of intensity.
The Joes had it in ample measure, while the Peterites could have done better in that respect. The Joes had been threatening something big, and their effort in the Fr. Basil Wiratunga Memorial Trophy match was the occasion for it.
Referee: Irshad Cader