Joes down Thomians to retain Jayatilleka Shield
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Out of my way, a Thomian forward on the offensive - Pic by Amila Gamage
St. Joseph’s College recovered from an early setback to beat S. Thomas’ College 22-10 in their Inter-Schools Under-19 League Rugby Tournament second-round fixture worked off at Mount Lavinia yesterday.
The Josephians after conceding an early try to their opponents hit back with a vengeance as they went on to seal the game while collecting their points from one goal and three tries having led 12-5 at half time.
In contrast, the Thomians after a very promising start to the game failed to keep the same momentum and eventually, they managed to score just a couple of tries.
St. Joseph’s success also had a great amount of significance as they went on to retain the Lady Jayatilleka Shield for the third successive year and also maintained their unbeaten record in the tournament.
After Shehan Rajapaksa had provided the Thomians with an early try, it was all one-way traffic as the Joes went on to dominate proceedings with a combination of power and elegance.
St. Joseph’s took the lead for the first time in the game when dynamic Shevon Gregory powered his way to touch down for a spectacular try which was converted by Santhush Algama.
The Josephians never looked back from there onwards and added another try to their tally shortly before half time with scrum half Reshan Gunawardena doing the honours with a dazzling performance.
Incidentally Gunawardena had an outstanding game as he had the satisfaction of scoring a hat-trick of tries while making his presence felt in both attack and defence.
Gunawardena was into the act once again as he mesmerized the entire Thomian defence with a clever piece of work to touch down for the second time in the game which gave the visitors a commanding 17-5 lead at that stage.
His third try was another superb effort which was initiated from midfield as he brushed aside a couple of defenders to touch down near the corner flag which gave his team a 22-5 lead at that stage despite Algama missing both conversions.
S. Thomas’ then scored a consolation try during the latter stages with Shenuka Fernando making use of the good ball to find a huge gap in the opposition defence before falling over near the corner flag which amended the final scores to 10-22.