Sports -

Unbeaten Isipathana led 12-0 in the first half. It was a treat to watch the green shirts in action after the turn around when they went on the rampage to defeat Dharmaraja Kandy by 29 points (2 goals, 3 tries) to nil at Havelock Park yesterday.

Though the Rajans were beaten they gave a gritty performance in defence against the mobile Patana back division who handled the wet ball with extremely well. Their heavy pack rucked and mauled giving good ball to the backline to make gaping holes in the rock hard Rajan defence.Rajan full back Sahan Ratnayake, a Sri Lanka under 19 player, was a bundle of energy in defence. In the third row burly No 8 Mudanayake with their bone jarring tackles contained the marauding Patana ‘eight’ in the initial half.

But in the second half Isipathana changed their ploy and ran the ball to plant three tries.

Isipathana scored their first try through Ashan Costa. The best try of the match came two minutes before the short whistle when full back RizviMubarak collected a high ball, punted ahead. Centre Ashen de Costa grabbed the loose ball and slipped it to winger Kasun Gamage to dart over the line. Mubarak added the extra points. Playing an intelligent game Gamage scored a hat-trick of tries to put Patana ahead at 22-0. The final try was scored by Dimutu Taraka.

Referee: Pradeep Fernando.

Earlier Isipathana won the under 14 and under 16 matches 12-7 and 29-0 respectively.

Before the game two minutes silence was observed as a mark of respect to Isipathana rugby player Shehan Kadushkaarachchi who died last week due to an illness.