Thomian grit prevail over Joes
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The Lady Jayatileke Shield returned to Mt. Lavinia yesterday after a brilliant second half performance helped S. Thomas’ College snatch an unlikely 26-24 win against a fired-up St. Joseph’s College in a Dialog Schools Rugby League 2023 game played at their college ground.
The Josephians were early to unleash their intention of retaining the coveted shield for another year, as they were in the offence from the first whistle, and went onto take an early lead by the tenth minute and lead the halftime by 12-9. They raked up a bonus point after scoring four tries, out of which two were converted, but the Thomians showed their grit to snatch points whenever possible and keep their tally intact. Eventually they scored from two converted tries and four penalties, which was sufficient enough to record a two-point win, despite being totally outplayed in the first half.
St. Joseph’s surprised S. Thomas’ with an offensive playing style, which resulted in two quick tries – one in the third minute from hooker Chamod Seneviratne and another in the 10th minute from winger Shanuka Alahakoon. Only one of the two was converted by fullback Rasitha Rodrigo as the Josephians led 12-0.
But they were equally scrappy and conceded four penalties during the first half. Three of them were brilliantly put over by the Thomian fullback Yehan Bulathsinhalage, out of which two were almost on the halfway mark.
No sooner the second half kicked off, the Josephians surprised the hosts with another try off flanker Sachinthaka Waidyanayake, as they expanded the lead to 19-9 with the conversion from Rodrigo. Bulathsinhalage put over his fourth penalty in the 40th minute, which helped S. Thomas’ reduce the deficit to 19-12.
But a bulldoze move from St. Joseph’s skipper and No.8 Naveen Marasinghe in the 46th minute put the Thomians in a hapless position with the lead expanding to 24-12. Marasinghe’s counterpart and Thomian centre Viyaan de Silva took only three minutes to respond with a converted try off a neat line work as the closed in 19-24.
With Josephian skipper Marasinghe being sent to the sin-bin in the 51st minute, the Thomians took the opportunity to return the favour on the Josephians and attack their territory. Their effort was paid off when prop Mohamed Hakeem ended a brilliant forward move in the 54th minute and take over the lead for the first time 26-24. The Thomians were resolute in their defence until the final whistle
which helped seal the game in their favour.