Thomians edge out Isipatana - 17-15

by Chris DHAMBARAGE

RUGBY: S. Thomas’ College bounced back into recognition with a thrilling 17 points to 15 points victory over Isipatana College in their Singer inter school under 20 Division One Group A league rugby tournament match worked off at Mount Lavinia yesterday.

The Thomians adjusted themselves well to the wet conditions from the beginning and collected their points from one goal and two tries after having led 12 nil at half time. Isipatana College responded with one goal, one try and one drop goal.

This was a tremendous performance from S. Thomas’ College considering the fact that they went in as the underdogs having suffered two successive defeats at the hands of Trinity College and Kingswood College respectively.

However they displayed a lot of courage and determination throughout the game and survived a fierce late rally from their opponents to register a morale boosting victory. Isipatana of course came back strongly during the last few minutes of the game where they scored two splendid tries and put over a drop goal to keep their hopes alive.

In fact the lads from Isipatana could have forced a draw had their captain and centre Dinusha Chaturanga added the extra points to their second try. They kept play inside the Thomian territory for most of the time and were rewarded for some superb fast open rugby.

The slippery conditions certainly did not favour their style of play but still they came on terms with their opponents during a great comeback. First it was their fly half Nilushan Fernando who put over a neat drop goal to open their account shortly after half time and to reduce the margin to 3-17.

Isipatana kept on trying through their speedy three quarters from their onwards and centre Damith Udayanga scored their first try while adding the finishing touches near the corner flag. Skipper Dinesh Chaturanga made a difficult conversion to further reduce the margin 10-17 and to keep their hopes alive.

The last few minutes of play turned out to be crucial for both teams but Isipatana did well to score their second try during injury time through winger W. S. Fonseka. The conversion kick from Dinesh Chaturanga went inches away from the goal line and with that their hopes of drawing the game were shattered.

Earlier S. Thomas’ College took the initiative while completely dominating the first half of play. They opened scoring through a superb try from second row forward Devaan Hallock. This was followed by another splendid effort from their captain and number eight Rohitha Rajapaksa who barged his way to touch down under the posts.

S. Thomas’ College almost sealed the game in their favour with winger Niluk Wickrematilleke slicing through the Isipatana defence to score their third try of the match which put them well ahead by 17 points to nil.

Referee: Pradeep Fernando.