Singer Schools Rugby League 2018 Trinity holds Isipathana to thrilling draw

Trinitian prop forward Joshua Peter had a grand game for the Kandy outfit

By Shamseer Jaleel

Trinity College showed what they are made out of when they held on for an exciting 12-12 draw in their encounter against a high-riding Isipathana College.

Meanwhile, Royal College had a narrow escape when they edged Wesley 18-17. St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College scored easy wins over Zahira College and Kingswood College respectively. With two more games left until the end of the league competition, defending champions Royal and St. Peter’s remain unbeaten.

St. Peter’s College held on for a close 20-10 win over a much improved Kingswood College in their encounter at Havelock Park.

The games were played under wet and rainy conditions with both teams struggling to handle the ball. At halftime the game was deadlocked at 7-7.

A Liyanapathirana penalty and Charles try gave a good lead to the Peterites, with Liyanapathirana adding the extras to take the scores to 17-7. Kingswood added a penalty from Bandara and then Liyanapathirana replied with one more penalty.

D.S. beat Science College

D.S. Senanayake College scored an easy 29-15 win over Science College in their Singer Schools Under-19 Plate rugby encounter which was worked off at Havelock Park yesterday.

At halftime, D.S. led 10-8. (SJ)

Trinity got back into good form in the second round when they held onto a 12-12 draw against a much improved Isipathana outfit at Havelock Park.

At halftime, Trinity shocked the hosts with a 12-6 lead.

In round two, Trinity produced an improved performance against Royal and even their game against the Peterites saw them lose by just one converted try. The ballhandling of the Green Shirts was far below par with them dropping the ball a number of times which gave the visitors good opportunities to attack. Trinity did well with stand-in skipper, winger Vishwa Ranaraja, leading his team well. 

The three-quarter line too looked good. But Trinity conceded a number of penalties which allowed the home team to make a comeback. However, Trinity kept the strong Pathana three-quarter line at bay, preventing them from crossing the line during the whole game. Joshua Peter and Madhi Abdullah scored for Trinity with Akila Sakalasuriya being on target with one try conversion while for Isipathana four penalties were converted by skipper Manilka Ruberu.

Joes 26 points

Zahira 12 points

St. Joseph’s College, after having a comfortable 19-0 lead, were given a real scare by the Zahirians, who stormed back by scoring two tries and dominated towards the end of the second half. Nevertheless, the Josephians kept their composure to walk away with a 26-12 triumph.

Deen and Aneesdeen scored the Zahirian tries with Samsudeen adding the extras on one try conversion while the Joes scored their tries through Tharindu Maduranga, Piyatissa, Rashane Gunawardena with skipper Sameera Veranga converting three of them.

Royal almost lost their unbeaten tag against Wesley in an encounter in which no one picked the Wesleyites. They led 17-15 at halftime but lost out on the game through a point when they were beaten 17-18 in a thriller.

Once again the game was stopped for about 10 minutes as the crowd from both sides was involved in a free-for-all. Yet again it was Dinka Peiris who was at the centre of the fracas. Even a week ago in the Kandy encounter between Kingswood and Isipathana he was taken to safety after the angry crowd threw bottles at him. 

Sasith Siyath and Himantha Hirushan scored Royal’s tries with Dulan Gunawardena on target with a conversion while putting over two penalties. For Wesley, Kavindana and Paranithrana scored with Musheed Zuabair putting over one penalty and two conversions.

In the plate encounters, Dharmaraja College scored a close 29-24 win over Vidyartha College. Meanwhile, St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota outclassed Lumbini MV 61-5 and the Thomians edged out Maliyadeva 26-19 in Kurunegala.