Joes cut loose in the second half to halt a Kingswood charge
A Joe on the charge - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
It was a tale of two halves, as the reigning champions of the Milo knock-out tournament, St. Joseph’s overcame initial stiff resistance from Kingswood to run out 23-10 winners. While the winners who were behind at half time (9-10), obtained their points from two goals and three penalties, Kingswood had to be content with two unconverted tries.
Kingswood dominated the first half by playing some eye-catching rugby. Their back division was always on the look out to exploit the gaps in defence. The Joes passed the ball around and, then, kicked ahead most times into the hands of a defender.
It would be true to say that by their positive approach; Kingswood put the Joes off their stride.
It was the Joes who got on the board first through a Santush Algama penalty. At this stage, the Joes appeared under pressure and indulged in some wayward passing.
In the 18th minute, winger Thumula Weligampola scored Kingswood’s first try when the ball came his way off an orthodox move. He deftly handed off a defender and went over deep left. Malka Sampath, who otherwise had a good game, failed with the kick.
A few minutes later, fly half Asiri Seneviratne side stepped, dummied and ran across before passing to Malka Sampath who was able to wriggle through. Sadly he missed this conversion too (10-3).
The Joes did the right thing by taking whatever penalties that came their way to put points on the board. At the short break, the scores were almost deadlocked (10-9). All Algama’s conversions were 42 to 45metre efforts.
Words must have been spoken at the interval and confidence instilled. The Josephians were a different side in the second half. They seized the initiative and went at their opponents hard. They showed more vigor and caused some confusion in the ranks of the Kingswood players.
Skipper Sameesha Viranga set the pace by breaking through in midfield and running around 30 yards. His pass was collected and the forwards crashed through. Prop Theeraka Santush crossed the line for the first Josephian try. Algama converted well to make it 16-10 in his team’s favour.
Not satisfied, they scored another to put more distance between them and the Kandy lads. Full back Gemunu Chetiya joined the action in mid field and made a brilliant break. He was stopped short of the line but his attempt wasn’t wasted. Centre Kavinda Keshan grabbed the ball and slithered over the line. Algama added the points once again. In fact, Algama’s contribution amounted to 13 points – ultimately the difference between the teams.
Kingswood had a glorious chance of adding to their tally, but a pass was dropped on the goal line.
Kingswood thrilled in the first half, but the Joes showed far greater intensity in the second. On balance, the Joes deserved to win probably by a 60-40 margin.
Thus St. Joseph’s stand on the threshold of retaining the title they won in 2017 by beating Isipathana. The only one standing in their way is, probably, SAINT PETER.