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Anthonians pick chinks in Trinity armour
St.Anthony 31, Trinity 19
By Aubrey Kuruppu
It was rousing, and it was at times quite exciting but ultimately it had to be the Anthonians as they made fewer mistakes in beating Trinity by 31 points (1 goal, 3 tries, 2 penalties, 1 drop goal) to 19 (1 goal, 1 try, 1 converted penalty try) and thus annex the Dilip Kumar Trophy at Nittawela yesterday.
The Katugastota lads imposed their authority at the very outset through a simple Reyal penalty. Then in the 10th minute, the Anthonians were at it again when the ball rolled loose and winger Kusal Rankothge picking it up, breezed along the touch line to score. Reyal was at correct again to make it 11/0 off a penalty.

Trinity showed some fight at this stage and threatened the Anthonan line briefly. However a long kick by Reyal took play into Trinity territory. Well positioned, he dropped a simple goal when he received the ball.

A push over try by number eight Imalka Maddumapatabendi and the conversion by Pushpakumara for Trinity made the score 14/7. However the Anthonians struck back at once. Rankothge ran through a non existent defence and handed the ball over to Reyal who scored. Wijesiri added the extra points and the score stood at 21-7 at lemons.

Trinity’s weak ball handling, poor tackling and indecisiveness was taken advantage of by the Anthonians who perished them for their lapses.
A rare Reyal miss in the Antonian twenty five saw the Trinitians indulge in some snappy passes and winger Kosala Tissera touched down (21-12)
A Trinity defender dropped a high ball and the Antonians sent the ball out to winger Mohamed Safraz who did a short run to score. (26-12).

Trinity’s forwards took control in the second half and with their spirited play they were able to make more of a match of it. Hung Ching in particular was quite outstanding.

The Antonians probably felt that they had insulated themselves from defeat after running up 21 points in the first half and allowed Trinity to come back strong in the second.

The Trinitians had some consolation when the Antonians were penalized for dashing the ball and a penalty try was awarded. Skipper BNR Fernando put it over.

In a sense, this result was expected as the Antonians had a superior side, whose back division had more speed and, thrust. Yet, hopefully, the Royalists won’t play as the Antonians did. So Trinity can go into the Bradby with confidence impaired but intact.

Refree – Dilroy Fernando.
Under 17. Trinity 22- St. Anthony’s 0

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