Skipper Naveen Kanishka scored a last-minute try to help Isipathana College pull off a hard-fought 28-18 victory over St. Joseph’s College in their Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament match played at Longden Place yesterday.
The defending champions, who led 10-8 at half time came under tremendous pressure in their third outing for the current season but held their nerves until the end before coming out victorious with one goal, three tries and two penalties.
St. Joseph’s, the last year league runners-up, had their chances early in the first half and kept their hopes alive until the final whistle but some indiscipline play cost them the game as they ended up with one goal, one try and two penalties.
Isipathana and St. Joseph’s had an equal chance of pulling off the game as they went into the last few minutes of play with just a solitary penalty separating the two teams.
However, Isipathana wasted no time in getting their act together well as they worked their three quarters beautifully before Kanishka found the gap near the corner flag for the match winning try.
Full back Rinesh Silva made a superb conversion from a difficult angle and with that Isipathana were able to seal the contest with a bonus-point win for the third successive week. Just moments before that Isipathana try, St. Joseph’s had brought the game alive with a push over try from Sachinthana Waidyanatha after full back Ruchitha Rodrigo had sliced through the opposition defence with a powerful 40-metre dash.
Few minutes later, Kalindu Silva touched down for Isipathana’s second try following another dazzling three quarter move supported by Shaheed Zumri and Rinesh Silva.
St. Joseph’s reduced the margin to 8-10 at half time with a penalty from Ruchitha Rodrigo. The Josephians failed to take advantage at this stage as Isipathana were down to 13-men following two yellow cards.
St. Joseph’s also suffered the same fate midway in the second half as their key players Marasinghe and Waidyanatha both were handed yellow cards for indiscipline play. Isipathana soon grabbed the opportunity and went on to increase their lead to 21-8 with two penalties from Silva and a try from Zumri before Rodrigo fired across a penalty to make it 11-21.
By – Daily news