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Royal
huff and puff, to hold patana The sleek Isipatana backline made running rugby a reality when they had their tiring opponents running for shelter to score this spectacular try through winger Dinesh Kumara to hold Royal. Adoring supporters drawn from both schools were there in numbers to watch this absorbing game which generated tremendous excitement. In the first half the Royal 'eight' had enough power and skills to move around. Led by nippy scrum-half Zulki Hamid, they kept up a fast tempo winning much territorial advantage, with much 'good ball' flowing their way in the long throws through Dushantha Lewke, Nanda Abeysekera and Rakeem Bari. Even in the set-pieces Royal controlled but undaunted Isipatana (sans three of their regulars) due to injury, defended man-to-man, and were hard to penetrate. Had Royal solely depended on their 'eight' and moved the ball around, could have scored further. Hard running winger Lakshman Dissanayake was isolated and hardly touched the ball. In the last five minutes before the turn-around Royal kept on pressing. Off a five yards scrum, Zulki Hamid picked up the ball and cut through to slip the ball to winger Bilal Yusuf to crash over for an unconverted corner flag try to lead 5-0. It was Royal's wrong game plan trying to play with the forwards, cost them dearly. Further selfish play by the backline, too proved a decisive factor. Isipatana with the flair to run the ball and even winning the long throws when A. Gunawardena towered over their opponents, the Royal forwards were tiring out and were making mistakes. Isipatana capably led by Anuranga Walpola kept on buzzing against a helpless Royal defence in disarray and Royal's line was in imminent danger. A penalty in front for Isipatana, but they opted for a scrum, and they just failed to score. But a Royal forward in defence knocked on. Off the ensuing scrum Isipatana on this occasion, made no mistake with more fire and sparks to scored a spectacular try, a minute before the long whistle when winger Dinesh Kumarasiri crashed to the corner flag. Fullback Wettasinghe made a superb effort but lacked direction. The score was five all and Royal and Isipatana shared the Milroy Fernando rugby trophy for the second successive year. Referee Anil Jayasinghe. Winger
Rinaz's hat-trick has Thomians in spin The first half was a physical battle between the heavy Thomian pack and the Peterites defence. The Petes were up to the task although they had to play hard to keep the Thomians at bay. The second half started much the same as the first half with the Peterites making all the running with their lightning speed which baffled their opponents. That brilliant winger Rinaz who had in the earlier three games scored eight tries with two hat trick of tries against Zahira and Ananda showed what a player he is in the third minute when he scored the second try for the Petes from a line out close to the line with fly half Dinuka Jayasinghe adding the extra points. To give the Peterites a 12-5 lead. The only exception for the Thomians was young Namal Rajapakse the No. 8 who was fighting a lonely battle with not enough support coming from his team mates. He made some sporadic moves which could not be turned to points. In the final ten minutes it was that man Rinaz again who was like a panther on the war path. Referee; Priyantha Rankotha. Easy for
Joes Carey down
Lumbini Skipper and No. 8 Nuwan Chamara and scrum half Mark Rajpal scored the tries for Carey with fly half Eranda Pramesh converted one and put over the three penalties. While for the losers centre Namal Nuwan scored the try and the penalty was put over by fly half Kamal Deshapriya. Referee: Nimal Fernando.-MSA
Dravid hit the winning run off a no-ball after a gripping finish sending India's big contingent of fans into wild celebration at Lord's. England scored 271-7 in their innings with a punchy 86 off 78 balls from Marcus Trescothick getting them away to a fine start after Nasser Hussain won the toss and chose to bat. But the middle order failed to capitalise on a good batting wicket with Yuvraj taking three wickets for 39. India lost Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Mongia for one run each but Dravid and Yuvraj steadied their innings and then passed England's total with seven balls to spare.
An old boy of Dharmapala, Pannipitiya, an ardent cricket fan he played for the school, with success. Associating with him during my stint at the Daily News (Sports) I came to know about his carefree way of life. He possessed abundant human qualities. He hardly had enemies. was quite aware that life was, too short to have enemies - malice to none. He respected elders calling them "Aiya". Never indulged in gossip which is a common trend apparently in some media quarters. He was not short of jokes. An early bird whenever he saw Marie Anne Koelmeyer (CDN Sport Desk, also a humanitarian. Who pre-deceased Sadun at the prime of her career), he always had a crack at her exchanging friendly jokes. I still vividly remember my trip to cover the National Sports Festival with Sandun at the Mahaweli Sports Complex - Embilipitiya. Ironically he was cremated before a big crowd at Maharagama, yesterday during the ongoing national schools festival held at Embilipitiya. On that memorable trip in high spirits he sang, danced and kept others alive. Even if he had overstepped the line, he spoke no arrogant words to hurt others feelings. That was Sadun, the 'Gentleman Jim'. If he harmed it was for himself but not at the expense of others. He always stood by his principles to the end. A lovable bachelor boy - at 51 led a full life. he stayed with his mother and looked after her with loving kindness and compassion. He will be missed by his family and friends, but the one who will really miss him is his mother to whom he was closely attached until his last breath. This was evident when I went to pay my last respects to a lovable friend. To him 'Mother was the Queen of his Heart. "May he attain Nibbana" B.W. |
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