St. Joseph’s College shocked the Mount Lavinia faithful as the visitors pipped the game at the end through a try from Thisath Thewnila, ending with a 4-point victory (36-40 – hat-trick of tries by Hemish Gamage), regaining the Lady Jayathilake Memorial Shield after a lapse of 3 years.
The traditional encounter, taking place for the 66th year, saw the hosts coming in as clear-cut favourites, having completed the League in 4th place in the Cup Championship.
The visitors, on the other hand, were under pressure to pull off a victory against a substantial opponent, as returning Sri Lanka 7’s Cap Janith Marasinghe was hoping to add solidarity in to both attack and defence.
It took hot stepper Mayanka Dias just 9 minutes to breach the Josephian defence as work horse Seneshka Liyanagunawardena set up the winger. He failed to add the extras. (STC 05-00 SJC)
The Josephians struck back, not once but twice, first through Ashen Kumara as he crashed through the STC defence, and then 7 minutes later by Hemish Gamage as he went over the defence.
Both tries were converted off the boot of Skipper Beeshma. (STC 05-14 SJC)
Seneshka was the first to break through the Josephian defence, as Mckyle Karunarathna got his name on the scoresheet on the stroke of Half Time, taking the home side into lemons with a 5 point advantage.
Half Time: S. Thomas’ College 19 (3T 2C) lead St. Joseph’s College 14 (2T 2C)
Hemish Gamage restored the parity with Joes going into the lead, but Avishka Perera score directly off the restart as a quick line-out saw the winger getting his hands on the ball, scoring a try of the season contender, running past 10 would-be defenders in the process.
Mayanka made no mistake with the extras as the home side reinstated their lead. (STC 26- 21 SJC)
Hemish Gamage comfortably completed his hat-trick but Individual brilliance from Udan Bulathsinhalage undid the Josephian’s once more.
Points off the tee for Mayanka was collected with ease by Mayanka as the lead changed hands once more. (STC 33-28 SJC)
The visiting Skipper made sure to touch down before the end of the game, but his converted try – 100% kicking accuracy – did not provide any certainty in the result.
Mayanka Dias slotted over a penalty to regain a single point lead with minutes left on the clock. (STC 36-35 SJC)
The one point-lead spurred on the visitors as they showed sublime continuity to string together 17 phases. The clock was well in the red as hard working prop forward Thisath Thewnila brashed over with two defenders clinging on to him.
The try meant S. Thomas’ fell short of their 3rd game in a row as the hosts looked like fatigue was creeping into their camp.
The jubilant Josephians managed to get their hands on the Lady Jayathilake Memorial Shield after a lapse of 3 years.
Full Time: S. Thomas’ College 36 (5T 4C 1P) lost to St. Joseph’s College 40 (6T 5C)
- Swisstek Perfect Player of the Match: Hemish Gamage (SJC 08)
; regaining the Lady Jayathilake Memorial Shield after a lapse of 3-years. ){kind=link}