Trinity roars to commanding win over Thomians 31-08
Trinity choked initially, but bounced back to leave the Thomians in a hapless state
Despite a shaky start and sitting behind by a mere point at halftime, Trinity College made a solid comeback to seal a commanding 31-8 win against S. Thomas’ College in their opening game of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024 at Pallekele yesterday. With the win, Trinity retained the Canon R.S. de Saram Shield for yet another year in their custody, being a traditional match played by both sides since 1978.
In the process of winning the shield for the 27th time, and lay a strong foundation to their quest as a contender to the schools league title, Trinity recorded four tries, three conversions and a drop goal, while earning a vital bonus point. The Thomians stunned their opponents by dominating the first half, leading 8-7, but were limited to the points they scored – an unconverted try and a penalty.
Hosting their season opener at home, Trinity were fired up from the beginning as they were rewarded with an early pick-and-go try from No.8 Thisanga Dissanayake, who tricked the Thomian defence. With flyhalf Shan Althaf’s conversion Trinity enjoyed a healthy 7-0 lead by the seventh minute.
But what followed was unexpected for the home team, who were clinically ambushed by the Thomians and were forced to defend. They were neatly overwhelmed by the Thomians during the remainder of the first half, during which the visitors scored.
After a bulk outbreak S. Thomas’ scored from a forward’s move that culminated with a perfect try from prop Sithul Perera in the 21st minute. Trailing by just two points, after a failed conversion from flyhalf Udan Bulathsinhalage, who made his debut as placekicker after his older brother and appointed skipper Yehan was forced to sit out of the game.
They gradually overruled whatever moves made by the home team and succeeded to take over the lead in the 30th minute after the younger Bulathsinhalage put over an easy penalty kick. With a man less, Trinity were forced to defend until the end of first half, which was dominated by the Thomians 8-7.
But after resumption, the Trinitians made an unexpected uproar, despite with 14 men, and were constantly invading the Thomian 22. Upon failing to find a clean breakthrough last year’s young Bradby hero for Trinity, Shan Althaf fired a drop goal out of nowhere in the 43rd minute, helping his side regain the lead 10-7.
After being restored into full force Trinity put their opponent’s at bay to score three more tries. While the Thomians were in a state of no clue, winger Udeesha Ratnayake put an end to Trinity’s numerous attempts to breach a line with a brilliant try in the 55th minute. With Althaf’s conversion they expanded the lead to 17-8.
The Thomians made a quick retaliation soon afterwards, with clear intention of turning tables, but a canny move by Althaf perhaps made them think that it backfired in a way that cannot be recovered. A box kick from Trinity’s scrumhalf, was collected and punted further by Althaf, who took the ball all the way from the halfway mark only by kicks. Althaf finished the effort in style by collecting the ball timely to land a try, which was converted by himself as Trinity further expanded the lead to 24-8.
The nail in the coffin for the Thomians were put by lock Akash Fernando, who completed Trinity’s remarkable recovery with a perfectly orchestrated try way beyond the full time. With his try and Althaf’s conversion Trinity recorded a commanding 31-8 win at home.