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Monday, 23 September 2019 02:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Winning Trinity outfit under Reshan Bandaranayake with the trophy
By Shamseer Jaleel
Trinity College ended their 42 long years wait to win the Schools Rugby Sevens tournament when they edged out St. Peter’s College 5/0 in a tensed encounter at the Trinity College Ruby Stadium in Pallekelle under wet conditions yesterday. The Trinity outfit was led by Reshan Bandaranayake. At the short breather scores were nil all.
Trinitians’ last win in Sevens rugby came in 1977 under Ravi Balasuriya. Trinity won the sevens for the first three years in 1975 to 1977. Rohan Sourjah (1975), S.V. Ranasinghe (1976) and Ravi Balasuriya (1977) led the Lions.
Both teams dished out quality rugby with Trinitians defence was high-class never allowing the Peterites to have a free walk run at them. Peterites too played in patches but a few handling errors cost them dearly.
After a scoreless first half, game went in to sixth minute of play in the later half when Janidu Ratnayake scored the winning try for the Lions right corner flag. Trinitians was coached by Saliya Kumara with Kavinda Jayasena as the team manager. Earlier in the semi-final Peterites edged out Kingswood 17/12 where the game went in to extra time after the scores stood at 12 apiece after full time. St. Peter’s was coached by veteran Sanath Martis.
Meanwhile Trinity dispatched Isipathana 12/5 after taking an early in roads with two tries in the initial half. Green shirts made a comeback and scored a try but it was too late as they ran out losers 5/12.
Meanwhile Thulaib Hassen led Royal accounted for the Plate when they beat Antonians in the Plate final. Bowl went to Science who beat the Rajans while Moratuwa Vidyalaya accounted for the Shield. The event was organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SSRFA) and sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka.
