Science College put up a valiant performance against their more illustrious opponents Royal College to start the season on a high with a 36-19 victory away from home.
Royal kick started their campaign brightly with an early penalty through captain Rimze Jamaldeen to lead Science in the first ten minutes of the game. However, the Royalists look extremely uncomfortable defending against a tight Science outfit that seemed very focused in executing their game plan.
The visitors opened their account in the league through Chathuranga Gomes who managed to score the first try of the game. Science put their forwards to go use, pressuring the Royal defense who crumbled under the consistent effort put in by the attackers, allowing Chathuranga to squirm through and put his name on the scoresheet. C. Singhe put over a tough conversion from the corner to give Science a breathing space of four points
Rimze managed to cut the deficit to a point with another penalty, this one being a bit harder than the first. However, Jamaldeen who had a good season with the boot last year as well, managed to find the target with ease.
Science then capitalized on a napping Royal defense, when they managed to turn over the ball well in their half, as the winger broke through on the right wing to find support in G.G.H.T. Thilanka who finished the move with ease. The Royalists charged forward to upset the focus of the Science kicker, as the try was left unconverted.
Almost immediately, the Royalists responded with Rimze pulling the strings once again. This time, he executed a drop goal to perfection, keeping the Royalists in the hunt.
Science was left with 14 men on the field closer towards half time, due to an infringement in the ruck spotted by the referee compelling him sin bin the offender. Rimze converted the penalty that preceded the infringement, as Royal levelled scores 12-12.
However, even with a man less the visitors managed to break through the right flank again as they scored the third try in similar fashion to the previous one, questioning the organization of Royal’s defensive organization which seemed to be in total disarray. Singhe the try scorer, also made the conversion count, as Science lead the boys from Reid Avenue at half time.
Half Time: Royal 12 – Science 19
The home side started the second half brightly, with a few promising patches of possession. Udesh Udawatte made a significant run through the middle only to find the lack of support from his mates, who were far behind losing a great opportunity to score.
Royal continued to have possession, but kept making crucial mistakes that eventually lead to conceding the advantage on many occasions.
All hell broke loose as Science went on to score under the post through R.A.N.U. Perera to extend their lead. A brawl between the players led to the stoppage of play for around five minutes as the tense situation was brought under control. An alleged knock-on spotted by the players, in the process of scoring the try might have been the root cause of the nerves that led to the incident. Nimshan Jayawardene was shown a red card by the referee after a heated discussion with the officials. Once the incident was brought under control, the conversion was unsuccessful due the sheer determination of the Royalists who ran the kicker down before the kick was attempted.
The boys from Reid Avenue had only themselves to be blamed, as they lost possession in crucial stages of the game. Another knock on by their scrum half Nevaan Perera lead to the fourth Science try, as they worked the ball on the blind, creating an overlap as M. Fernando scored his first of the season.
Royal finally managed to score their first try through Azman Khan, who was helped by his forwards early on in the play. Rimze, maintained his perfect record with the boot, as the Royalists cut the deficit to ten points.
With just ten minutes left, the home team who were chasing the game, failed to make any impact on the scoreboard, and Science capitalized on the stroke of full time, with I. Karunathilaka making a daunting 60m run through the middle after they turned over possession. Gomes added the extra points taking the score to 36-19.
The game had a few a disputable decisions going both ways, but Science College were the better team, and should be extremely pleased with their performance today, which would definitely appeal to the neutral.
Full Time: Royal 19 – Science 36
