Isipathana College pulled off a nail-biting 15 points (three tries) two 14 (one try, three penalties) win over Royal College, Colombo to clinch the Milroy Fernando Memorial Trophy in their Singer Under-20 schools rugby match played at Longden Place, Colombo yesterday after trailing 10-11 at the ‘breather’.Royal had a chance of pulling off the game when they were awarded a last minute penalty from 25-metres away, but skipper Nimshan Jayawardene kicked it astray. Royal were unable to prospered on two opportunities few minuets earlier when they were given a five-metre scrum and lineout. Isipathana opened the scoring in the second minute when Isuru Gimhan joined the line, off a three-quarter move and ran 30 metres to score under the post, but Isuru Kongahawatte surprisingly missed the easy conversion. Five minutes later, Royal hit back off a three-quarter move in Isipatana ‘25’, Royal’s winger Bhanuka Gamage sped over 30 metres to score by the corner flag
Nimshan Jayawardene missed the conversion. Ten minutes later, Isipathana grabbed the lead once again, as prop forward Danuka Dissanayake fell over for an unconverted try. Five minutes later, Royal’s skipper Nimshan Jayawardene fired across a 35-metre penalty. Isipathana led 10-8. Just before the ‘breather’, Royal skipper Nimshan Jayawardene made no mistake in a 25-metre penalty to give Royal a slender 11-10 lead at ‘lemons’. Royal continued to attack early in the second half and increased their lead when Nimshan Jayawardene put over his third penalty in the 10th minute. Royal led 14-10. Ten minutes before the final whistle, Isipathana snatched the lead, off a 20-metre lineout, which scored a push over try through Number Eight Omalka Gunaratne, but Kongahawatte missed a difficult conversion and score red 15-14 in favour of Isipathana.
A few minutes later, Royal were reduced to 13 players, when the referee Irshard Cadar sent two Royal players to ‘sin bin’. Though the Reid Avenue lads fought back the fortune did not strike on them during the latter part of the game. Isipathana won the game and Trophy came bacl where its belongs
( Daily News )
Best Wishes From – Isipathana College Online Information Centre.
By – Ramesh Rushantha Silva