(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – The ruggerites from Trinity College, Kandy regained the prestigious Canon R.S. De Saram Trophy by beating S’Thomas College Mount Lavinia by 29 points (5 tries, 2 conversions) to 14 (2 tries, 2 conversions) in their Singer ‘A’ Division inter-schools League rugby first round match played at CR & FC grounds in Longden Place yesterday. At half time the winners led 19-0.
Trinity showed better control of the ball in perfect conditions and turned the match in their favour with a rousing first half rally.
The ruggerites from Kandy were always sure of what to do, in contrast to the Thomians who only knew to run straight, often ramming into their opposite numbers their by lost the grip as they seemed hampered.
Their hopes of winning seemed thrust under a dark cloud as their play maker cum captain Naveen Heenakankanamge left the field with an injury just before half time and the score read 19 points to nil in Trinity’s favour at the breather.
However the Thomians staged a spirited comeback in the second half to close the gap with the scores reading 24-14, but still Trinity in the lead.
Trinity College boys gave a superb brand of running rugby where they enjoyed the major share of possession from the set pieces and put up an unthinkable effort to topple the S’ Thomas College in the second half as well.
They dared to run the ball quickly into the gaps and gained advantage when ever a gap was detected in the opponents defense.
Finally Trinity College Kandy sealed the game by scoring 5 tries in the game through winger Amit Kulathunga-2, scrum half Anouk Boyagoda-1, captain and number eight Nathan “Yee” Chan-1 and fly half Akith Sakalasooriya-1 while the two conversions were done by Lashan Wijesuriya.
Fly half Hans Walpola and full back Mayon Jayawardana scored one try apiece while winger Dion Dias put over the two conversions for S’ Thomas College Mount Lavinia. (Courtesy – DN)
Referee: Rohan Fernando
