Royal College faced off against traditional archrivals St. Thomas’ College on Friday, the 2nd of August, at The Big Club Grounds of St. Thomas’ College in a highly anticipated Dialog Schools Rugby League Cup Segment clash. With pride, tradition, crucial league points and the coveted Michael Guneratne Trophy on the line, both teams put on a pulsating display of schoolboy rugby that went down to the wire.
Since the kick-off whistle, Royal College meant business. A minute into the game, Royal executed a brilliant counterattack and went through an end-to-end passage of play. Meters away from the whitewash, a ruck is formed right next to the left-hand side corner flag; Disas Pathirana spots the gap and dives into it, opening the scoring account for the boys from Reid Avenue. (RC 05 – STC 00)
Both teams made pretty much no mistakes during the next 5 minutes of the game, up until St. Thomas College was penalised with a penalty for an offside. Idris Farouk capitalises on the opportunity and takes the 3-pointer. (RC 08 – STC 00)
After an intense battle displayed equally by both teams, it was Royal College that made the next blunder. The tackler was seen not rolling away from the ruck and interfering with the Thomian scrumhalf’s movement. It was an opportunity for the boys from Mount to open their scoring sheet by a penalty. Mayanka Dias does exactly that and puts his school on the scoreboard (RC 08 – STC 03)
St. Thomas’ College once more was penalised for an offside infringement with a player being “yellow” carded and sent to the sin bin. This time around, Royal, without opting for the 3-pointer, went for a quick tap. A couple of hits later, Royal No.08 Disas Pathirana bounced his way through the Thomian defence and scored his 2nd try of the game. Mohommed Simak adds the extras (RC 15 – STC 03)
Moments later, an unsafe tackle by Royal saw one of their own getting “yellow” card, and they were reduced to 14 men as well. Opting for a lineout, the Thomians set up a beautiful driving maul. After a bit harder work by the Thomian pack in the breakdown, the flanker, Tieshya Aluwihare, was able to score the first try for his team (RC 15 – STC 08)
With half-time looming, Royal College wins another opportunity to extend their lead by an offside offence by their opposition. Mohommed Simak bisects the posts, extending the lead to a 10-point margin. (RC 18 – STC 08)
Half-time: RC 18 (2T 1C 2P) – STC STC 08 (1T 1P)
The beginning of the second half was all St. Thomas College. From the kick-off chase onwards, they were applying pressure to the lads from Reid Avenue. What seemed like a bad pass to Mayanka Dias resulted in nothing short of absolute individual brilliance. Stepping his way score under the post in “Shane Williams” style of play is the type of restart the Thomians were hoping for. Dias adds the extras for his own try. (RC 18 – STC 15)
Meters away from the tryline, Royal opts for a scrum, hoping that it’s the right call. A brilliant, gutsy cross-field lateral 40m run by the Royal skipper, Amika Samarasinghe, does what he does best, sneaks through the Thomian defence and scores the try in a typical finisher’s style, extending the lead for his team. Simak adds the extras (RC 25 – STC 15)
18 minutes remaining, phase play attack and maintaining continuity with offloads by the Thomians managed to break the Royal defence in multiple areas, allowing Mayanka Dias to score his 2nd converted try and reduce the deficit to just 3 points! (RC 25 – STC 22)
With momentum on their side, the Thomians are testing the Royal defence with their heavy forwards. 9 minutes remaining and St. Thomas’ College gets a scrum right outside the 5m line. A brilliant line break by Bulathsinghalage was just short a meter from scoring his first try of the game. Yet, with a couple of pick and goes and the advantage on their side, Seneshka Liyanagunawardena barges into the Royal defence to score his try and give the School by the Sea the lead for the first time in the game. Dias adds the extras (RC 25 – STC 29)
Right after the Thomian knocks on the kickoff, giving Royalists one final opportunity to regain its lost lead in the dying moments of the game. It was high-intense 5 minutes of play, both teams showing dedication and the hunger to bring the “Michael Guneratne Trophy” back to their respective school. Like any typical Roy-Tho encounter, the game wasn’t over till it was over. Till the dying minute of the game, it was going the Thomian way, but on the 70th minute, the big forward of Royal College, Yoshitha Sithumina barges his way onto the Thomian last line of defence and touches down to score the “winning try” of the game, giving his team a slender lead of 1 point! (RC 30 – STC 29)
- SWISSTEK Perfect Player of the Match – Disas Pathirana (RC)
Points Breakdown
Royal College – 30 (Disas Pathirana 2T, Amika Samarasinghe 1T, Yoshitha Sithumina 1T, Idris Farouk 1P, Mohommed Simak 2C 1P)
St. Thomas’ College- 29 (Mayanka Dias 2T 1P 3C, Tieysha Aluwihare 1T, Seneshka Liyanagunawardena 1T)
