The much awaited Singer League 2014 Schools Under 20 Rugby Tournament got under way last week with the opener between St Peters College and Kingswood College ending up 14 all draw played at CR & FC Grounds Longdon Place.
The match started off well for the Peterites when flanker Nishop Perera intercepted a pass and dashed through his way to score under the post for the first try of the match. Shamil Burah Converted and St’Peters lead 07 to KCK 00. However despite the lead the Peterites could not maintain momentum as they were under pressure from the scrums and lineouts and were seen dropping the ball many times giving the opportunity for Kingswood to take advantage. In the final quarter of the first half the Kings managed to penetrate the Peterite defence on two occasions through winger Jaleel and Second Row Theawadana. Wijesinghe converted both tries as Kingswood lead 14 to 7 at half time. In the Second half midway the Peterites manage to level the scores through a try by Kevin Dixon for Shamil Burah to Convert and the scores stood at 14 all until the final whistle. Two players from Kingswood and Peterite Skipper Senal Aponso were sin bin.
On the same day Trinity College made their intentions clear for this years’ league when they thrashed D.S. Senanayake College by 61 points to 00 after leading 25-00 at half time at the match which was played at Pallekele. Trinity College who missed out on last year league by finishing runners up scored tries through Sanchna Sheeik, Rukshan Shasmin and Lochana Girihagama two each, while Tharida Ratwatte, Isuru Rangala and Nipun Alahakoon crossed the line on one occation with Ratwatte converting eight of the nine tries.
On Friday St’Joseph College came out blazing guns when they trounce the much fancy Wesley College by 20 points to 10 after leading 17 – 00 at half time. The Joes scored three tries through Stephan Gregory, Shasheen Sudaraka and Shamika Kurumbalapitiya in which Shamika converted the first try. Wesley came back into the game by scoring their first try through Hooker Thisara Maduwantha. Skipper Joel Tillakaratne converted and also put over a penalty for Joes being offside to bring the deficit to 07 points. However Dulith Fernando took the game beyond the Double Blues with a 35 meter penalty to stretch the deficit to 10 points ending Joes 20 and Wesley 10.
On Sunday with three matches being played with the biggest at Longdon Place where Isipathana held on to a nail biting finish to edge out Royal College by 15 points to 14 to retain the Major Milroy Fernando Trophy. At half time it was Royal who led by a slender 11 points to 10. Isipathana scored three unconverted tries through I.Kongahawatta, G.Dissanayaka and O.P.Gunarathan while Royal managed one try through B.D.Madushan and three penalties converted by Nishan Jayawardana. The biggest upset came up in Kandy where S’Thomas College beat Defending Champions Dharmaraja College by 30 points to 15 while Science College beat St’Anthony’s College by 29 points to 08 at Science Grounds Mount Lavinia.
Singer Schools League 2014 Schools under 20 Division 1-A Rugby tournament Match Results for week 1
