Unbeaten Green Machine claim Greens title
A group stage match between St. Joseph's and Lumbini - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
Isipathana College recorded a smashing 47-7 win against Vidyartha College to snatch the first ever National School of Business Management’s (Green University) schools Under-21 Rugby Tournament played at the Racecourse ground yesterday.
St. Joseph’s College went on to win the Plate title after their resounding win of 36-0 against Trinity College while Sri Sumangala College Kandy won the Bowl title. After a grueling battle Sri Sumangala beat Mahanama College by 26-24 in the Bowl final. Ananda College ended up Shield championship after thrashing St. Aloysius College Galle by 40-5.
Sixteen teams participated in the competition while Royal and S. Thomas’ gave the event a miss, but most of the other leading rugby playing schools took part.
The feature of the day’s matches was the confrontations between rival schools. Trinity earned a narrow win over the Anthonians to whose chagrin their placekicker hit the upright with his attempted conversion. Had it veered in, the game would have ended in a tie.
Isipathana, who finished off unbeaten, turned on the style in ample measure when they walloped Thurstan by 52 points to nil. This was the day’s highest tally.
The Josephians led all the way against the Peterites. The latter indulged in a late spurt but could not tilt the scales in their favour. The little Peterte scrum half was a delight to watch. Surely he has a big future ahead of him.
A late try by Dharmaraja added a vestige of decency. However, their opponents, Vidyartha produced the best rugby of the day. Slim and speedy, to a man, the Vidyartha lads spearheaded by Chaturanga and the winger Lahiru Ratnayake were simply unstoppable as they picked big gaps in the Rajan defence.