Sports - Trinity stun St. Anthony’s at Pallekelle

Trinity stun St. Anthony’s at Pallekelle

By Aubrey Kuruppu

Trinity made an absolute mockery of predictions and turned on a fiery, peppery display of rugby to mesmerize the Antonians by beating their rivals by 24 points (2 Goals,2 Tries) to 13 (2 Penalties,1 Penalty Try) at Pallekelle yesterday.

This was a test of character and the lions came through with heads held high shortly after half time which saw them lead 7-6, their chances of winning seemed to have evaporated when referee Orville Fernando awarded the Antonians a penalty try under the posts which was put over by Roshan Wijesiri for a vital 13-12 lead. This was awarded for deliberate blocking of the Antonians who were on the attack at the time.

But the Trinitians came back and, how!

Full back Krishan Kirinde’s attempted conversion hit the upright and bounced back into play. After a hecticscramble in the Antonian 22, skipper Imalka Maddumapatabendi somehow crawled over the line to touch down, having negotiated many fallen defenders. This try gave back the lead to Trinity 17-13.

In the dying minutes, Maddumapatabendi pickedup the ball and weaved his way through to put the issui\ue beyond doubt. Krishan Kirinde’s angular conversion was the icing on the cake.

Once the Trinitians settled down, they played as a unit with the forwards and the backs exchanging short snappy passes. In contrast the Antonians hardly sent the ball down the line.

The powerful play by skipper, lock Sean Wanigasekera, prop Sathya Ranatunga and centre Kasun Samaradivakara contributed greatly to this win. The others were not far behind.

Trinity opened scoring when winger Sanka Sampath ran round the defence and cut in to score under the posts. Fly half Arojan Balasunderam converted to take an early 7-0 lead.

Centre Roshan Wijesiri put his team within touching distance withtwo fantastic penaltyconversions. One was around 48 metres and dead centre. Theother was around 40 and slightly mid left.

This was a clean sweep by the Lions as their cubs beat their opponents 12-0 (under 12), 42-0 (under 14) and 15-7 (under 16).

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