The day was just perfect for a good game of Rugby at Bambalapitiya when the wounded Peterites locked horns with the high riding Science College. After losing two matches back to back in Kandy against Trinity and Dharmaraja, the Peterites were hungry for a win.
The lads in the Blue-White-Gold led down their supporters who travelled with them to Kandy over the last weeks were criticized heavily by some of the arm chair facebook rugby critics and even the so called rugby pundits in various forums. They were even called a one man Army with no game plan and could not accept defeat.
From the first kick off Science meant business as they kept the Peterites on the back foot punching holes in the Peterite defense.
Science drew first blood in the 5th minute of the game by scoring a try by player maker Chathura Gomes in the right corner. The conversion was a difficult one for him. With an early lead of 5 points to nil, they looked deadly in attack making ground in every move. The off loading and securing of the ball for Peterites was still a bit of a nightmare whenever they attacked as they kept losing the ball in breakdowns.
It’s normal for a good team to capitalize on the mistakes of their opponents and Science scored their second try after forming an overlap through a beautiful three quarter move near the left corner flag by Richard Dharmapala. This try gave them the psychological advantage over the home team and had a healthy lead of 10 – nil in the 25th minute.
The Petes then reduced the lead to 7 points in the 30th minute as “Fiji” booted a penalty from the 40m mark. Score board read – 10 to 3. The Peterites were penalized by the Referee in the 35th minute for handling the ball inside a ruck and Science got a Penalty at the 30m which science made no mistake of taking their score to 13 points.
The starving Peterites went on to attack; Science in the last 5 minutes of the first half was rock solid defense, foiling every attack beautifully when the referee Gamini Indrasena blew the whistle for Lemons.
The Peterites looked a different outfit in the 2nd half as their scrum half was unloading the ball quickly from the breakdowns and feeding the three quarters in every given opportunity. This indeed gave them a chance to smell the try line for the first time in the game, after the Peterite three quarters started working the ball fast and the open side flanker Nishon Perera joined his winger to score in the left corner. The reliable place kicker “Fiji” missed a difficult conversion in the 45th minute.
In the second half Science College did not change much of their tactics to gain territory as they kept on pressurizing the Peterite full back Kevin “Kutty” by kicking the ball each time they saw an empty space inside the box. However this saw “Kutty” running more towards the ball ..rather than waiting for the ball to come to him and counter attacked beautifully with his signature side stepping. Sadly this did not give much advantage for the Peterites as they fumbled the ball on a few occasions leaving their supporters screaming from the side lines “Come on Peters ! Hold that ball !’.
Science was awarded a scrum inside the 10 meter line and Peterites did the silliest mistake in the match by wheeling the scrum. This opened the gates for the Science No-8 Yasindu Ishan to take a cake walk to the try line to increase their score with Gomes converting to 20 to 8 to Mt Lavinia.
At this point the support for the home team was increasing and they hit back almost immediately when the Peterite Winger Praveen dashed 50 meters to score under the post. “Fiji” made no mistake in the conversion to give their Blue –White-Gold supporters a reason to get up from their seats for the rest of the match. The score was 20 – 15.
Peteirte engine gathered more momentum from this point onwards and looked threatening in their attack by punching holes in their Science defense line who were constantly back peddling. Peterite no 3 Big man “Anjana” was impressive with his hits dragging with him defenders hanging on to his body a few times with the Peteirte Vice Capt Shenal too using his weight to gain yards for the home team.
In the 66th minute the referee played advantage for a knock forward by a Science player and Peterites responded brilliantly by counter attacking it from the center when their winger Shannon Direckz side stepped a few defenders and off loaded a pass to his 6 footer team mate Dilanka to score under the post. “Fiji” looking Canute kicked it easy through the posts to give Peterites a lead for the first time in the game 22 to 20.
The boys from Templer’s road were not ready to give up as they took the kickoff in no time and kept the ball with their forwards by executing a tight play. However a high tackle by a Peterite defender was well spotted by the Touch Judge – Aruna Jayasekara resulted in referee Indrasena to award a penalty for Science. Chathura Gomes made no mistake and gave Science College a lead of one point in the 76th minute. 23 to 22.
The Bamba boys did not want to disappoint their home crowd and pulled all strings and fired on all cylinders to turn on their “Last Minute Magic” button. They went on to attack the try line like a set of wolves and followed up every move. In the 80th minute Nishon Perera – the Peterite flanker followed up a clearance pass from a Science ruck when it was fumbled by their player and dived on the try line near the left corner flag to give Peterites a much deserved victory. “Fiji” kicked the conversion to tick the final scores to 29 to 22.
As the home supporters ran towards their team to celebrate the victory, some witnessed the supporters from losing team verbally abusing the referee Gamini Indrasena and trying to man handle him as well.
Once again the game of rugby the winner with both sides displaying some passionate and skilled rugby.
