Isipathana blaze past Royal to claim Milo President’s Trophy

By Shamseer Jaleel

Isipathana College proved that they are the top team among schools this season when they outclassed Royal by 47 points (6 goals, 1 try) to 12 points (1 goal, 1 try), to clinch the Milo President’s Trophy at a packed Racecourse Rugby Grounds yesterday. 

This win in the knockout competition’s final gives Isipathana a league-knockout double this season. At half time the winners led 19-7.

Royal were placed under constant pressure from the opening kick. Isipathana for their part defended very well. Their skipper, Kasun Indunil, was outstanding both in attack and defence, splitting the Royal defence a number of times. 

He was well supported by his centre, the rock solid Sumudu Rankothge. Fly half Randy Silva, who had an average semi-final, stole the show in the final with a hat-trick of tries. Royal, who played under pressure, was well supported by their scrum half, Ashok Vijaykumar, who made some incisive moves which put the lads from Havelock Town on the back foot and had them in thinking mode. He was well supported by winger Shabith Feroze, who made lightning quick runs at times but lacked support from his teammates. 

The Reid Avenue school’s scrums and line outs were faulty in the first half. The referee, who was tough during the earlier stages of the game, sent two players from each side to the sin bin.

Isipathana centre Sumudu Rankothge drew first blood in the 15th minute of the game when he split the Royal defence to touch down. Fullback Gayan Wickremaratne was on target with the conversion. Fly half Randy Silva touched down with his first try to create a 12-0 lead for his team. 

Royal then crossed the Pathana try line through Royal scrum half Ashok Vijaykumar, who scored a fantastic solo try, which Askey converted to reduce the Pathana lead to five points. But Isipathana scored on the stroke of halftime with a handy try through their powerful skipper. Wickremaratne added the extra two points to send his team into halftime leading 19-7.

After the turnaround it was one-way traffic as Pathana piled up the points without expending much effort, scoring their tries through Randy Silva (2), Sumudu Rankothge and Ranidu Padmashanka. Wickremaratne and Padmashanka converted two tries each. Royal scored their solitary second half try through their most consistent performer, hooker Ajmeer Fajudeen.

The game was refereed by Rohan Fernando. The assistant referees were Aruna Shantha and Sarath Madugalle.

Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera, who was the Guest of Honour, was present alongside Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, who was the event’s Chief Guest. Nestle, which has been sponsoring the knockout rugby competition since 1995. Yesterday’s score was also the highest for a final.