Trinity triumph 12-0

by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen Kandy Sports Corr.

Trinity registered hat-trick of wins when scored a rousing 12 points (1 goal, 1 try) to nil win over S. Thomas in their 29th encounter for the Canon R. S. de Seram Shield rugby match played at the Bogambara Stadium. At half Trinity led 7-0.

With this win the Trinitian have scored their third successive win in the series to bring their tally to 17 wins against 11 by the Thomians with one match ending in a draw.

Before the commencement of the match both teams were introduced to the guest of honour Maurice Perera, Quentin Israel, David Ponniah, Dayalan Subramaniam and Rod Gilbert.

Heavy showers before and during the match made ground condition wet and slippery and both teams had a tough time in handling the ball. The Trinitians held sway in the line out through some fine jumping by Sean Wanigasekera and Rasantha Madawala. The scrums appeared to be equally shared.

The Trinitians opened their account in the 20th minute of their half when scrum half Nishantha Manickam sent a short pass to centre Kosala Tissera who sprinted nearly 40 metres to touch down under the post.

But the turn around saw the Thomians putting up a better performance and territorially they dominated play.

They too had there chances of scoring but spilled passes. Midway in the second half they did everything but score. They forced three scrums a few metres from the goal-line and they got respite only after fly half Anojan Balasunderam relieved pressure by clearing the ball. Their full back S. Dharmadasa too fluffed a penalty from kicking range.

Trinity's second scoring effort came two minutes from the end when the Thomian three-quarters were found off side and a penalty was awarded. Fly half Anojan Balasunderam taking the short tap moved the ball down the line and lock forward Rasantha Madawala backed up well to score far left. This try went uncoverted.

Priyantha Gunaratne refereed

Trinity won the under 18 game 5-0. The under 16 match ended in a 5 all draw. The under 12 and under 14 games were won by Trinity by margins of 19-0 and 14-0 respectively.