When you are at the top you must be extra vigilant since you might underestimate your opponent. That was the tale of the story last evening at Mount Lavinia when the little known Science College downed the high riding Trinitians for the first time in their rugby history by 12 Points (1 Goal, 1 Try) to 11 Points (1 Try, 2 Penalties to win in their Singer League Under 20 Rugby encounter.
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| Trinity-Science action at Mt. Lavinia yesterday. (Pic by Sanka Vidanagama) |
At the breather it was Science who led 7-6.
It was Science College’s day. Their line was lighting fast and the lads who were down in two previous games had nothing to lose and had no pressure on them. They were in thick of things being fast on all aspects of the exchanges. They worked the line at every given opportunity. Though most part of the game Science line seemed off side but that did not catch the eye of the referee.
Trinity should blame no one else but themselves for the poor ball handling. They dropped the ball like hot potatoes on many occasions. Though they played well in patches their line and three quarters never clicked as one unit. If one says they under estimated their opponents it is not wrong. They rested five of their regulars for no reason and even their assistant coach Dilip Selvam was not with the side in Colombo.
Science scored in the very first minute of the game when their nimble footed centre B O Chamath went through the shell shocked Trinity defense. Second row forward P K Perera added the extra points to take a 7-0 lead. Trinity cut the deficit through full back S Sheik’s penalty in the 12th minute of the game. Three minutes later Sheik was on target with another kick at goal. The game being played at high speed players lost their tempers. At the latter stages both schools lost one player each to the “sin bin”. Trinity got a golden opportunity on the stroke of half time when they opted to work the line instead of the penalty kick awarded just 25 meters away.
After the turn around Science College scored off a sweeping three quarter move with scrum half Richard Dharmapala touching down to take 12-6 lead. Trinity hit back very strongly through full back D. Nayakaratne’s try which went unconverted. Though Trinity attacked they were not lucky enough to run through the strong Science defense. Referee Charitha
Kodagoda.
Trinity won all the junior games.
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