Isipathana regain Rizwi Suhayb Memorial Trophy with commanding win over Thomians

Isipathana College produced a scintillating seven-try performance to defeat S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia 47-26 and reclaim the Rizwi Suhayb Memorial Trophy in the second annual Inter-Schools rugby encounter played at Havelock Park yesterday.

Leading 33-19 at halftime, Isipathana maintained their dominance despite a spirited Thomian comeback before pulling away to secure a memorable victory. Their 47 points came through six converted tries and one unconverted try, while S. Thomas’ finished with three converted tries and one unconverted effort.

The Green Shirts made a flying start, opening the scoring in the sixth minute when fullback Nimantha Sandeepa reacted quickly to a tap penalty to dive over for an unconverted try.

Just four minutes later, Sandeepa grabbed his second try after collecting a well-timed pass from Kenula de Costa following a line-out. Fly-half Thenul de Costa added the extras to extend the lead to 12-0.

Thenul turned scorer himself in the 16th minute, slicing through the Thomian defence for Isipathana’s third try before converting his own effort.

The pressure continued as prop Nevith Mevnaka crashed over from close range following a pick-and-go move in the 22nd minute. Thenul was once again on target with the conversion, giving Isipathana a commanding 26-0 advantage.

S. Thomas’ finally responded in the 25th minute through centre Udan Bulathsinhala, who produced a dazzling individual run to beat several defenders and score. Flanker Rometh Wijesinghe added another try from a rolling maul four minutes later, with Mayanka Dias converting to narrow the deficit to 26-12.

Isipathana answered immediately with another converted try to restore their dominance at 33-12. However, the Thomians struck again before halftime with a converted try to reduce the margin to 33-19 at the interval.

S. Thomas’ carried that momentum into the second half, scoring another converted try to close the gap to just seven points at 33-26 and briefly threaten an unlikely comeback.

The response from Isipathana was emphatic. Mevnaka crossed for his second try of the afternoon in the 43rd minute before the Green Shirts added another converted try in the 50th minute to put the contest beyond doubt.

The convincing 47-26 victory marked Isipathana’s first triumph in the Rizwi Suhayb Memorial Trophy series and underlined their superiority with an outstanding all-round display.

Referee: Kelum Sandaruwan.