The formidable rugby power of Hill Capital, Vidyartha College, faced off against spirited St. Joseph’s College in the opening week of the Dialog School Rugby League 2025 at the Nittawela Rugby Fortress. After a pack of thrilling actions followed by a nail-biting finish, the game ended with a tied full-time score.
During the initial minutes of the encounter, Vidyartha Tigers enjoyed much possession and kept pressuring the Darley Road boys. But St. Joseph’s outfit displayed a rock-solid defense by blocking Vidyartha’s multiple scoring opportunities.
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Later, after an excellent pick-and-go passage, Vidyartha drew first blood as the big prop forward Dinusha Dilshan barged his way over the try line. But the Tigers failed to add the extras from the kick that came from the 15-meter line. (VCK 05 – SJC 00)
Thereafter, the Joes were determined to counterattack, and at the midway mark, Vidyartha was penalized for not releasing the ball. The Joes forwards looked bigger than the Tigers, but the Tigers displayed a lot of heart in the defense. After five minutes of play in the opposition territory, Joes managed to earn a few penalties as the referee, Ishanka Abeykoon, spotted that the Vidyartha defense line was offside. At one point all the Vidyartha players stopped the game and watched the referee after giving a penalty against them in front of the goalpost.
The powerful Josephian No. 08, Inosh Silva, spotted the opportunity and intelligently took a quick tap near the try line and went to score by turning all the Vidyartha players to the spectators. Malshan Dewmin added the extras from an easy angle to put their side in the lead. (VCK 05 – SJC 07)
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Then, both teams attacked with full intention to score, but the mistakes and some good defenses sealed a scoreless passage of play. However, Joes managed to lead the game with a slender margin at the lemons.
Half time – Vidyartha College 05 (1T) – 07 (1T, 1C) St. Joseph’s College
In the second half, both teams had changed their gear and launched a harder attack on their opposition. As a result, game discipline shattered, and the defensive team was caught with offenses quite regularly.
Hence, the Vidyartha player got a yellow card for repeated infringement. After a few seconds, Joes capitalized on that, and crossed the line as St. Joseph’s prop forward Isuru Chathuranga scored an under-the-post try. But the sound of a cracker may have distracted the kicker while he was advancing to kick, and the easiest conversion chance went astray. (VCK 05 – SJC 12)
After a minute, the Vidyartha side was reduced to 13 players as their captain was yellow-carded while he tackled an attacker without retreating 10 meters after awarding a penalty. Without wasting much time, Joes again capitalized as Isuru Chathuranga went for his second try by dragging two defensive players. (VCK 05 – SJC 17).
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Meanwhile, another yellow card was given to a Vidyartha player for punching, and the game looked like it was in the bag for St. Joseph’s. But the determined Vidyartha Tigers had other ideas and kept challenging their opponents.
Then a St. Joseph’s player was yellow-carded too, and Vidyartha was rewarded for their excellent pick-and-go passage. Vihanga Sathsidu was the try scorer, and the conversion attempt was missed by a whisker. (VCK 10 – SJC 17)
There was a turnaround in the game as another St. Joseph’s player was sin-binned due to a high and dangerous tackle around the neck area. By making maximum use of the extra-man advantage, Vidyartha scored another try by Vihanga Sathsidu through a rolling maul. Then the Vidyartha placekicker Kavindu Hewage nailed a crucial conversion to square the game. (VCK 17 – SJC 17)
By that time, the game momentum was with the Tigers, as the opposition team was down to 13 men. But the energetic and brave St. Joseph’s lads played out of their hearts and kept threatening the Vidyartha defense near the tryline. Suddenly St. Joseph’s center Malshan Dewmin spotted a small gap, and he pierced it by an excellent running angle to regain the lead. Captain Bheeshma Jayasekara made no mistake with the conversion and established a cushion with a 7-point lead. (VCK 17 – SJC 24)
The hosts were never ready to accept defeat in front of their supporters, and amid the loud cheers, the Tigers played for glory. In the final minutes, a lot of questions were asked by the Tigers, and St. Joseph’s made a good clearance kick to get out of the jail. But the Vidyartha fullback caught the rebound ball on the 5-meter line of their own half and made a brilliant sprint to the midway by avoiding a few tackles through side-stepping. After a couple of passes, Tigers opened up a huge gap, and the replacement scrum-half went through while three defenders were chasing. At the end, the Tiger was much faster than the chasing St. Joseph’s players, and he scored a glorious try in front of overjoyed home supporters. Kavindu Hewage nailed one of the easiest conversions but, most importantly, under tremendous pressure to equal the scores. (VCK 24 – SJC 24)
The conversion followed the full-time whistle, and the Vidyartha’s brilliant attacking effort, which covered almost 95 meters of territory, gave a narrow escape for the hosts, though the game ended with a tie. Nevertheless, hats off to both the teams for displaying some fierce and spirited rugby during this thrilling encounter, which went down to the wire.
Full Time: Vidyartha College, Kandy 24 – 24 St. Joseph’s College
Swisstek Player of the Match: Vihanga Sathsidu (Vidyartha College)
Points Breakdown
St. Joseph’s College 24
Isuru Chathuranga 2T, Inosh Silva 1T, Malshan Dewmith 1T 1C, Bheeshma Jayasekara 1C
Vidyartha College 24
Vihanga Sathsidu 2T, Dinusha Dilshan 1T, Bandara 1T, Kavindu Hewage 2C
