Trinity edge out Antonians

By Shamseer Jaleel

RUGBY: The Trinity ‘Lions’ minus four of their regular players edged out the confident Antonians by 25 points (1 goal, 3 tries, 1 penalty) to 24 points (1 goal, 1 try, 4 penalties) at Nittawela Rugby Stadium in one of the key Singer Inter School League under 20 encounters yesterday.

It was the part time place kicker and prop forward Mohamed Riyazie who put over a penalty in the last minute of the game to win by a mere point. At the short breather. It was the ‘Eagles’ who were leading 17-10.

Though it was expected to be one sided the Antonians gave their maximum effort and they played hard running rugby in the first half. Their scrum half Imad Riyal was in cracking form pouncing on the loose ball and while in attack left the Trinity defence open on a number of occasions. The blow on the Antonians was far too much as they are yet to win a single game this season.

They have to sit and wait for their games against Rajans and Vidyartha which are must win outings. This game Antonians would like to forget quickly as this was adding salt to their wounds.

Trinity on their part were spearheaded by number 8 Rushdy Ramzin who looked threatening in all his moves. More to the success the ‘Lions’ are lucky to have their 1987 champion side skipper and ‘Lion’ Tyrel Rajapakse along with the side for the last one month or so. Tyrel who is in Canada now on holiday here has boosted the youngsters through his motivational talks.

As usual it was Trinity No. 8 Rushdy Ramzin who crashed through the Antonian defence in the 9th minute to score. Three minutes later scrum Half Imad Riyal reduced the lead through a neat penalty kick at goal.

In the 16th minute Antonian skipper Chanaka Gunaratne sliced through the Trinity defence to touch down to take a 8-5 lead. But the Trinity No. 8 Rushdy Ramzin once again had a grand game.

In the 23th minute he scored his second try through a forwards rush to take a 10-8 lead favouring Trinity. But it was short lived as Imad Riyal was on target with three penalty kicks at goal within 10 minutes to take a 17-10 lead at the short breather.

Then came the decisive second half where the Trinitians as usual showed their fitness and ability to last the full game. Last week’s match winner against the Thomians Shamrin Sameen dashed through the Antonians to score and reduce the lead to 17-19. Trinity nippy scrum half Habeeb Hamid scored and Mohamed Riyazie converted to take a 22-17 lead for the ‘Lions’.

Antonian centre Tharanga Bandara virtually dashed the Trinity hopes when he crashed through to score under the posts to give them a 24-22 lead. Then came the stone throwing drama where some of the Antonian school boys threw a few stones at the referee and the game was halted for nearly five minutes.

After the resumption of play Trinity kept on attacking and were awarded a penalty 35 metres out. It was the part time place kicker Mohamed Riyazie who was on target to give a nail biting win for the ‘Lions’ and continue their winning streak. Pradeep Fernando did a grand job in refereeing.

Under 16 Trinity won 12-7.