The play kicked off with the referee’s whistle, but weather conditions weren’t conducive at all; the high spirited players were battling in a muddy pitch.
Dharamaraja College Kandy owned the league trophy whether no matter the outcome of the game but who would not wish for an unbeaten finish? “It’s nothing like laying the hands on the trophy after a triumph” were the gleeful words of the Dharamaraja Captain Rochana Hettiarachchi. For Royal it was the fight for a higher place in the points table.
Royal were the first to score in the match with a penalty no later than ten minutes into the game. Rizmie Jamaldeen knocked up the 3 points with confidence to give Royal first lease of the board. Dharmaraja College was fighting to get points on the board when they were awarded a penalty 20 minutes from the start. The penalty was taken by T. Wijesinghe easily slotting in the 3 points. Though the weather was bad and pitch was extremely muddy Dharmaraja had a slight advantage in penalties since the wind was in favor for them in the first half.
Royalists back in attack were kicking the ball from the next point onwards. The league Kings were upto the task and defended merrily. They were able to get hold of the ball and at the 28th minute. Passing the ball on to the corner of the pitch almost 50 meters away from the touch-down No. 11 –I. Wimalasuriya- for Dharmaraja College carried it all the way up to the try line and even was confident enough to run to the middle of pitch for the touchdown. This performance was had the spectators on their feet.
Following the tremendous try, though the Kandy camp tried to break the defense by the same technique a several times and they weren’t successful, at least till the half time. Another try came along with a long run by Thilina Wijesinghe. This brought up the scores to a 17 – 3 with the Kandy team leading by 14 points.
The Royalists never gave up the battle and moved the ball close to the try line only to have the opposition whisk it away. Few moves later taking the advantage Royalists built a strong push near the try line. This got them the try which they were gunning for almost an hour. The score was up, 10 – 17, still in favor of the maroons. It rejuvenated the Royal roar.
At this point of the game already two yellow cards were offered by the referees and the third was up against Dhramaraja College. The crowd’s reaction to this was not diplomatic. They appeared so ferocious the referees had to request for special guard from the police officers. The game was paused for a couple of minutes while the precautionary measures were taken.
Resuming the play, it was not getting any better for Dharamaraja College. The Royalists were fighting for the ball in the mud and they succeeded for the second time. Drawing close to the Royal try line Rajans defended furiously causing many break downs, but were not good enough to prevent the Royalists scoring the final 7 points of the game. The game was tied with 17-17 all.
Dharamaraja College found it hard to wrap their head around the fact that Royal tied up with their brilliant performance. This shock was too much for the players to handle since it was the last 5 minutes of the game. The game got furious. Royal did not want to let the opponents score. This shared very tense feelings amongst all the players and changed the phase of the game; kicking the ball to fro, even the kicks were too rushed that none gained any from the next 2-3 minutes. Royal were back in focus and was playing wisely. At the last minute almost 40 m form the try line Dharamraja had the opportunity to go for a penalty. Unfortunately this was not used wisely since the players were too stressed to pay attention to the time. The full time closed in on the game and wrapped up at a draw.
Still the evening was young for the Dharmaja College; they had a trophy to collect. Soon after game play the Kandy crowd started their celebrations: lighting crackers, maroon lights, waving flags. “We were in the B division. So coming up to ‘A’ divisions and being the champs in 7s last year, my aim was to be in the top five at the singer league” Coach of Dharmaraja College flashing back on his thoughts at the start of the league. “This is a common effort and I should share the happiness with my team members, all the officials at school and many other rugby enthusiasts”
“I think we were the lucky to a certain extent but our passion and commitment combined resulted this victory. We had some tough times, a serious injury made us loose a player since the Wesley match. We almost reached our targets though. For an example we wanted to make up a 48 at the St. Anthony’s match and we did so. Even I had to change my position to reach this achievement. After all it was Trinity’s loss that mattered for the victory. That was luck ” Captain of Dharmaraja College on the victory.
It was also pointed out after a one day break the team will be heading back to practices for the knockouts.
ThePapare.com takes this opportunity to congratulate the champs on a tremendously played league and wish them all the best for the knock-outs.
