The last game of Singer Schools’ Rugby league 3rd week saw Trinity playing their 1st away game hosted by D.S Senanayake at Longdon place.

Trinity, coming into the game as the favorites, did look like they were taking it easy on a spirited D.S outfit, who were valiant, and put the lads from Kandy under tremendous pressure in the first 20 mins. The boys wearing gold & black were guilty of not converting early chances in the first half which would have put Trinity in a situation where they could succumb to scoreboard pressure. Instead it was bad day for the kickers from both sides as 5 kickers in total only managed 5 conversions out of 14. Trinity ended up on top with a 00-65 score line displaying an improved performance in the second half.

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Thushila Perera, the Trinity Fly half kicked off proceedings with referee D. Nimal’s whistle and Trinity were guilty of being indisciplined at the start of the game where they gave away 04 penalties to D.S. Senanayake College. D.S. Skipper and playmaker Mohammed Muzmi decided to kick the 04th penalty which went astray and the scores remained nil all. Trinity had a brilliant chance when a D.S line out was turned over by their forwards, quick ball was sent out to the backs and Avishka Sheik made a tremendous run and scored beating almost 04 defenders en route. To Avishka’s and Trinity’s dismay the touch judge had spotted a dangerous tackle made on a D.S player by the Trinity Fly half and play was brought back to where the offence was committed. It is fair to say that D.S. Senanayake College dominated possession in the first 20mins of the game but failed to pounce on the erroneous showing by the Kandy lads early on and a poor kick against the run of play saw Trinity’s Sheik collecting the ball and offloading it to Ayesha Edirisinghe who sped away for the first try of the game. Sanushka Abeywickrama was not successful with the conversion (00-05 Trinity).

D.S.Senanayake College vs Trinity College
Ayesha Edirisinghe speeds away for the first try – (00-05)

Soon after D.S had a chance of reducing the deficit through a kick at goal but D.S lock forward Hasindu Hemasiri’s kick went astray and the score remained at 00-05 in Trinity’s favour. More heartbreak was in store for the Senanayakians when a pass was intercepted by Trinity center Sangasinghe, who offloaded the ball to Sheik, Sheik ran a brilliant line and created a hole for Shalindra Alahakoon to cross the white line; Abeywickrama was not successful with his second attempt at the posts and the score read 00-10 in Trinity’s favour.  D.S were found wanting whenever the ball was kicked over their backs; spotting this shortcoming from the boys in black and gold, Rashane Bandaranayake, Trinity scrum half put in a grubber kick which was charged down and collected by Dilushka Dange who scored a deserving try. Thushlia Perera taking on the kicking duties was not successful with the conversion leaving the scoreboard at 0-15 in favour of Trinity. D.S Senanayake got another penalty under the post on the 22 meter mark but Captain Muzmi made a complete mockery out of the kick which ended up in the touchline. Adding insult to injury Shalindra Alahakoon of Trinity scored off a set piece and the kicking woes continued with Thushila came good on the conversion and at lemons the scores read 00-22 in Trinity’s favour.

 Photo Album – D.S.Senanayake College vs Trinity College – Schools Rugby 2016 

The change in sides saw Trinity making a tactical change, bringing in Anuka Boyagoda as scrum half and soon after the restart Avishka Sheik, who had a great first half, was in action again running a beautiful inside line to create space for Sanushka Abeywickrama to score in the far flank; Thushila Perera was successful with the conversion (00-29) and that was the last contribution he made during the game as Lashan Wijesinghe replaced him soon after the kick. This half combination of Anuka & Lashan proved to be ideal for Trinity as they picked up momentum and looked a team with better intent on the attack.

D.S.Senanayake College vs Trinity College
Avishka Sheik Papare’s Man of the match creates space for Abeywickrama

As if starting the second half with a try against you was not enough, the Senanayakiyans were dealt another blow when referee Nimal sent Ruchira Weerakoon to the sin bin. Trinity Skipper Karunathilaka made a dash, making use of the extra numbers on the field and offloaded in Kobe Bryant fashion to send Sangasinghe racing for the corner flag to mark the 06th try of the game. Lashan was not successful with the kick at goal (00-34). Anjana Bandara Trinity Number 6 made a dashing run straight through the middle and created a gap for Ayesha Edirisinghe to get on to the score board for the second time in the game. Abeywickrama complied with the extras and the score read 00-41.  The next 20 minutes saw Trinity getting comfortable with their pattern of play while D.S made plenty of mistakes out of frustration which resulted in Pasan Samarawickrama , Charith Nanayakkara , Kulatunga & Kaneesha Alwis getting on the score sheets with Lashan Wijesuriya succeeding in converting 2 attempts to get Trinity to a 00-65 victory in their first away outing,

Speaking exclusively to the Papare.com after the game Trinity coach Eric Miller said “we probably didn’t do as much as we wanted to do, it was disappointing start to the match and we know that won’t cut any muster in the coming few weeks so we will take a long hard look at ourselves on Friday when we come back together after the new year”. He also added “Obviously you can’t argue with the score line that we have put on, but unfortunately the reality of being the coach I have to take a cold hard look, against better teams if we don’t turn up in the first 20mins in fact in the first half and we won’t get away with that. Maybe a glass half empty view on things but that’s unfortunately what we have to take away from the game but the guys and I are pleased with the score line. We put really good phases together in the second half but a lot to learn on.”

It was tale of two halves for both schools as although D.S were down 22-00 at the end of the first half they were troubling the visitors by starving them of possession but failed to put points on the board and Trinity capitalized on the errors made by them. The second half saw Trinity coming into a rhythm with fresh energy pumped off the bench and D.S giving into scoreboard pressure.

Full time: D.S Senanayake Vs Trinity – 00-65

Try scoresrs for Trinity 
Ayesha Edirisinghe (2)
Shalinda Alahakoon(2)
Dilushka Dange
Sanushaka Abeywickrama
Sanjana Sangasinghe
Pasan Samarawickrama
Charith Nanayakkara
Amit Kulatunga
Kaneesha Alwis

Conversions
Thusila (2)
Sanushka (1)
Lashan (2)