Trinity down S. Thomas’ to retain De Saram Shield
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Trinity continued their winning form from last week - Pic by Priyanka Samaraweera
Trinity College produced a superb second half rally to beat their traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College 17-11 in their Singer Inter-Schools Under-19 League Rugby Tournament fixture worked off at Mount Lavinia yesterday.
The Trinitians who were trailing 7-11 at half time came back magnificently to turn the game in their favour while collecting their points from one goal and two tries. The Thomians of course made a promising start and looked on course for victory but failed to keep the momentum and managed to score only a solitary try and two penalties.
Trinity’s success also had a great amount of significance as they went on to retain the Canon R. S. De Saram Shield for the third successive year. Even then, their success was in the balance until Amith Kulatunga produced a dazzling performance to score the match winning try shortly before the final whistle.
The dynamic back division player went on to add the finishing touches to a beautiful three quarter move before falling over near the left corner flag. The conversion of course went astray but more importantly, Trinity had built up a six-point lead over their opponents which they held on until the final whistle.
Earlier, S. Thomas’ got off to a great start as they took a 11-0 lead after just 20 minutes of play through some splendid fast open play. Bimsara Iriyagama put the Thomians in front with a neat 25-metre penalty before winger Sadiq Ishaq sliced through the Trinity defence to touch down for an unconverted try. Iriyagama was on target with another splendid penalty and the home side were well set to record their second successive victory in the second-round.
However, Trinity inspired by last week’s triumph over their traditional rivals Royal, came into the game with a tremendous performance with winger Janidu Ratnayake scoring their first try shortly before half time. Minidu Jayasundera made no mistake with the conversion and Trinity had reduced the margin to 7-11 at that stage.
The Trinitians rallied around magnificently in the second half and took the lead for the first time (12-11) when Mahadi Abdullah went over for a push over try shortly after the interval. They held on determinedly through some excellent spoiling work and solid defence from their back division before Kulatunga sealed the game with probably the best try of the match.