In the final week of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2022 group stage, Wesley College Colombo defeated Dharmaraja College Kandy 31 points to 12 in an important fixture of segment 2A in Nittawela on Saturday.
This was a do-or-die encounter for Wesley College, as this was a must-win for them to assure qualification for the Super Round.
The game started with a lot of kicks from both sides as Shaveen Jayawardene and Saumya Wijesiri got busy early in the game. However, it was Wesley College who began scoring after a very good first try by Fullback Tharusha Jayaweera in the 8th minute.
12 minutes later, Wesley winger Nithila Rodrigo found the try line after they used the width of the field exceptionally to create room for him to cross the line with ease. After failing to convert the 1st try, Shaveen Jayawardene converted this time with a glorious kick from the corner of the field.
Wesley did not stop there in the first half as Hafeez Thabeeth scored the 3rd try for them, which was converted by Jayawardene. The Rajans, who failed to capitalize every time they got possession throughout the first half, finally found an opportunity to score thanks to the individual brilliance of Saumya Wijesiri, who connected a little chip kick over the last line of the double blues defense and outran them to collect the ball himself to go over the line. Unfortunately for the Rajans, the try was not converted, and Wesley had a clear advantage of 19 points to 5 at halftime.
Inside the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, Nithila Rodrigo found the try line for his 2nd try of the game, but Jayawardene failed to convert. From that moment onwards, the game slowed down a bit as both the teams made a lot of handling errors, and a lot of scrappy play was on display.
However, with fresh legs coming in for both sides, the pace of the game picked up once again during the last 10 minutes. Jayaweera, who scored the opening try for Wesley, went over the line once again after Scrum Half Rigesh Muralitharan provided him with a beautiful backhand pass at the 5m line. Shane Hopwood, who came to the middle as a substitute, made sure the conversion was successful.
With no real-time left to play, for Dharmaraja it was all about giving the crowd who had gathered at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium something to cheer about, as well as to end round 1 on a good note. And that is exactly what they delivered when Thenuka Wickramasinghe went over the line as the Rajan fans went wild. Wijesiri converted the try to get 2 points for them, and the referee signaled for full time a few minutes later, as the final scoreline read 31-12 in favor of the visitors Wesley College.
Rigesh Muralitharan, with his quick little runs and accurate ball-handling, played a huge role in this big win for Wesley. He was the true playmaker for them in this encounter, even though you may not find his name on the list of scorers. His influential performance in this do-or-die match also earned him the NDB Player of the Match award.
With this win, Wesley College ended Round 1 at number 2 in Segment 2A, and managed to qualify for the Super Round along with Isipathana College. Wesley, who won 3 games, drew 1, and lost 1, ended round 1 with 21 points, which included 3 bonus points.
For Dharmaraja College it was a hard season where they ended round 1 without a single win after 5 games. They lost 4 games and ended the game against Science College with a draw to end as the 6th placed team from Segment 2A.
Full Time : Wesley College 31 (5T, 3C) – Dharmaraja College 12 (2T, 1C)
- NDB Player of the Match: Rigesh Muralitharan (Wesley College)
Point Scorers for Wesley College
Nithila Rodrigo 2T, Tharusha Jayaweera 2T, Hafeez Thabeeth 1T, Shaveen Jayawardene 2C, Shane Hopwood 1C
Point Scorers for Dharmaraja College
Thenuka Wickramasinghe 1T, Saumya Wijesiri 1T, 1C
