St. Peter’s College continued their winning streak as they defeated Trinity College 25 points to 13 in the final quarterfinal of the Dialog Schools Rugby Knockouts 2023 encounter worked off at Havelock Park.
Newly crowned league champions, the Peterites opened the scoring in this 4th quarterfinal through a penalty kick from Yumeth Shihara when Trinity’s defences gave away a penalty for not releasing the ball carrier. Trinity College, on the other hand, had an opportunity to equalise the game through a penalty, but the kick from Shan Althaf went astray. (SPC 03 – 00 TCK)
Trinity surprisingly managed to pile on more pressure at the Peterites while a few penalties from the champions gave an opportunity for Shan Althaf to kick for points, and he didn’t miss out on his second penalty kick. (SPC 03 – 03 TCK)
St. Peter’s hit back immediately with a long pass from Dulaj Navodya, opening space for the winger Pasindu Bandara to touch down in the left corner for the game’s first try. (SPC 08 – 03 TCK)
St. Peter’s defence continued to leak penalties as Trinity got some reward for their pressure through an Althaf penalty as two points cut down the deficit.
Half Time: St. Peter’s College 08 (1T,1P) – Trinity College 06 (2P)
St. Peter’s re-emerged after the break to show a bit more firepower – and were rewarded immediately as a long cut-off pass from Sudesh Jayawickrema to Pasindu Bandara gained a few meters. A quick offload to Kushan Tharindu was good enough from there as he raced over in the corner. Yumeth Shihara slotted over the conversion from a difficult angle. (SPC 15 – 06 TCK)
Peterites continued to impress as a kick from Althaf was charged down by the Peterite Prop Ranithu Ridmal, and Windya De Mel kicked the loose ball towards the try line and collected his kick to go over for an easy run-in. A few minutes later, Sudesh Jayawickrama broke through the Trinity defence and then made a lovely offload to the winger Dineth Ranasinghe as he went over the line, ending another slick counter-attack. (SPC 25 – 06 TCK)
Trinity made a comeback to stay in the game through their forwards with a series of pick-and-go’s before the big man Thenuk Fernando forced his way through the Peterite defense to score as Althaf added the extras. (SPC 25 – 13 TCK)
In the final stages of the game St. Peter’s had few opportunities but couldn’t convert them to points as they clinched this game and booked their place in the semi-final, where they will meet their arch-rivals St. Joseph’s.
Full Time: St. Peter’s College 25 (4T,1C,1P) – Trinity College 13 (1T,1C,2P)
NDB Player of the Match: Kushan Tharindu (St. Peter’s College)
Points Breakdown
St. Peter’s College: 25
Tries: Pasindu Bandara, Kushan Tharindu, Windya De Mel, Dineth Ranasinghe; Con: Yumeth Shihara; Pen: Yumeth Shihara
Trinity College 13
Try: Thenuk Fernando; Con: Shan Althaf; Pens: Shan Althaf(2)
