Trinity warmed up for their Bradby Shield against traditional rivals Royal with a fine 28-20 win over Isipathana in their Singer Division 1A inter-schools rugby encounter played at Havelock Park yesterday.
Trinity who held on to a slender 8-7 lead secured their points through a goal, three tries and two penalties to the two goals and two penalties by Isipathana.
The Lions had some anxious moments in the first half and in most of the second half before they opened the floodgates which saw the late second half burst being too hot for Pathana to handle.
Isipathana will have to regret as they missed easy scoring opportunities added to that some easy penalties of kicking range which were also fluffed. They were nowhere near the performance they put against the Royalist last week and looked a side without any aim.
Trinity on the other hand though undergoing some anxious moments succeeded at the time when it mattered most. They gave the lead to their opponents on two occasions but rallied and struck back, putting them under pressure to take back the lead.
It was a close tussle in the first half with Trinity making the first move through an unconverted try by skipper and flanker Ramith Dissanayake in the very first minute.
Isipathana responded with a try six minutes later when centre Dhanushka Sooriyaarachchi intercepted a pass for a try under the post giving Malik Jumad an easy conversion.
Isipathana got two opportunities to surge ahead but the two penalties offered were kicked astray by Jumad. Later Trinity’s centre Kanchana Ramanayake who fluffed a penalty made amends when he went over for a try two minutes before the short whistle which saw the two teams change sides.
The resumption saw the lead changing hands which involved penalties being booted in the first, ninth and 17th minutes with Isipathana through Jumad, Trinity through Kanchana and again Jumad booting over as Isipathana led 13-11 at this stage.
Trinity then gave a double blow by planting two tries within a space of three minutes with Kanchana and skipper Ramith going over for their second tries. This saw the Trinitians stretch their lead to 21-13.
A ding dong battle prevailed before Isipathana succeeded in reducing the lead with their skipper and No 8 going over for a try with Jumad adding the extra points.
Trinity hanging on to a wafer thin margin of one point (21-20) saw second row Shannon Armstrong seal the game for them with an under the post try in the dying stages of the match and Kanchana making no mistake with the kick at goal before referee Irshad Cader blew the long whistle. |
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