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by Chris Dhambarage

Isipatana retained the Abdul Jabber Shield for another year as they defeated their traditional rivals Thurstan by a convincing margin of 29 points to three in their annual inter school rugby encounter worked off at Longden Place on Friday.

Isipatana collected their points from two goals and three tries after having led 12-3 at half time. Thurstan managed to score only a solitary penalty. This was a fine effort by the Isipatana outfit who were minus some of their key players due to injuries. But they simply underlined their superiority and completed a rousing victory in their final appearance in the League tournament.

With the important President's Trophy knock out tournament coming up shortly Isipatana were not prepared to undertake any undue risk and as a result they managed to score only two tries during the first 30 minutes of play. But they were not worried about the scoreline because they were very much in control of the situation with plenty of possession coming their way both in the set pieces and in the line outs. The Isipatana forwards completely controlled the game with the experienced Anurudda Walpola leading the way. But it was young Asith Sandaruwan who scored their first try which was converted by Senthil Kumara. Few minutes later A. Bandara went over for another classic try and Isipatana went onto lead 12-3 at half time.

Isipatana continued their dominance and added three more tries in the second half of the game. They opened out with the three quarters beginning to run the ball regularly and creating more scoring opportunities. They kept their opponents pinned in their territory almost the entire second half but failed to add the finishing touches at the end.

T. Seneviratne broke the deadlock with a good move followed by two more tries from Walpola and Sandun Dharmasiri. But their place kicker Senthil Kumara managed to convert only one try in the second half of the game.

This was Isipatana's seventh victory in the current season having earlier defeated Kingswood College Kandy (23-3), Wesley (6-3), Trinity College Kandy (43-8), St. Sylvester's College Kandy (32-0), St. Anthony's College Katugastota (39-7) and Dharmaraja College Kandy (22-6). 

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