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Defeat St. Anthony’s Katugastota 18-13 in semi-final
St. Peter’s knock at the Pearly Gates
By Rangi Akbar
A try by Peterite skipper Sajith Adhikari in the fourth minute of extra time gave St. Peter’s a nerve tingling 18-13 win over favourites St. Anthony’s Katugastota in the second semi-final of the Milo President’s Trophy rugby contest at Longden Place yesterday.

St.Peter’s will now meet Kingswood in the final to be played in Kandy on October 8.
At half time St. Peter’s led 13-8.
The game was keenly contested and St. Peter’s silenced all their critics with a fighting performance which had the strong Antonians on the back foot. St. Anthony’s after their clear cut win over Trinity and S. Thomas’ were the favoured to win but they never accounted for the fighting display put up by the Peterites.

The Antonian skipper and fly-half Shaheer Reyal though giving a good account of himself failed to fit into the side. He excelled individually but failed to carve a nitch to fit in with the side. Nevertheless with more experience he should turn into a dependable fly-half.

Early in the first half I. Meedin put over a penalty in the third minute and St. Peter’s enjoyed a 3-0 lead. St.Peter’s went further ahead when a rolling ruck occurred and St. Peter’s scored through second rower Haren Ariyawardena,St. Anthony’s had a chance of scoring but skipper Reyal’s penalty went astray but to make up for this loss Riyal himself scored far left to make the score 8-5 in favour of St.Peter’s.

St. Peter’s kept on hammering at the Antonian defence and scored a try trough prop forward Desmond Wilson. St. Peter’s led 13-8 at half time after Riyal put over a penalty for the Katugastota lads.

The second half was bitterly contested and spectators were kept on the edge of their seats. Unfortunately the crowd control at the game was not what it should have been. Spectators were barred from witnessing the action as crowds kept on invading the pavilion area. There were also instances when the crowd kept on barracking the linesman.

On resumption Mohammed Munthazeer scored off a loose maul and St. Anthony’s were on par with the Peterites at 13 all.

The game ended on this note at the end of normal time and play was extended to extra time. St.Peter’s attacked relentlessly and were rewarded when skipper Sajith Adhikari crashedover to score to the delight of the Peterite supporters.

At the end of the game referee Aruna Jayasekera was escorted into the pavilion by officials of the SLRFU and to booing by a section of the crowd.

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