OLD THOMIANS' RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION

RUGBY: S. Thomas’ College bounced back into recognition with a thrilling 17 points to 15 points victory over Isipatana College in their Singer inter school under 20 Division One Group A league rugby tournament match worked off at Mount Lavinia yesterday.

The Thomians adjusted themselves well to the wet conditions from the beginning and collected their points from one goal and two tries after having led 12 nil at half time. Isipatana College responded with one goal, one try and one drop goal.

This was a tremendous performance from S. Thomas’ College considering the fact that they went in as the underdogs having suffered two successive defeats at the hands of Trinity College and Kingswood College respectively.

However they displayed a lot of courage and determination throughout the game and survived a fierce late rally from their opponents to register a morale boosting victory. Isipatana of course came back strongly during the last few minutes of the game where they scored two splendid tries and put over a drop goal to keep their hopes alive.

In fact the lads from Isipatana could have forced a draw had their captain and centre Dinusha Chaturanga added the extra points to their second try. They kept play inside the Thomian territory for most of the time and were rewarded for some superb fast open rugby.

The slippery conditions certainly did not favour their style of play but still they came on terms with their opponents during a great comeback. First it was their fly half Nilushan Fernando who put over a neat drop goal to open their account shortly after half time and to reduce the margin to 3-17.

Isipatana kept on trying through their speedy three quarters from their onwards and centre Damith Udayanga scored their first try while adding the finishing touches near the corner flag. Skipper Dinesh Chaturanga made a difficult conversion to further reduce the margin 10-17 and to keep their hopes alive.

The last few minutes of play turned out to be crucial for both teams but Isipatana did well to score their second try during injury time through winger W. S. Fonseka. The conversion kick from Dinesh Chaturanga went inches away from the goal line and with that their hopes of drawing the game were shattered.

Earlier S. Thomas’ College took the initiative while completely dominating the first half of play. They opened scoring through a superb try from second row forward Devaan Hallock. This was followed by another splendid effort from their captain and number eight Rohitha Rajapaksa who barged his way to touch down under the posts.

S. Thomas’ College almost sealed the game in their favour with winger Niluk Wickrematilleke slicing through the Isipatana defence to score their third try of the match which put them well ahead by 17 points to nil.

Thora in the nick of time

There some moments of your life that will keep haunting you for the rest of your life. The Isipatana place kicker Dinusha Chathuranga must be pondering how that easy kick was not spot on. Had that been done they could have drawn level at 17 all and gone home light heartedly. In short yesterday’s story is that centre W.U.D. Fonseka’s final second heroic was all in vain as the Thomians sighed a breath of relief to see them win the game at 17 points ( a goal and two tries) to 15 points ( a drop goal, a goal and a try) at Mt. Lavinia yesterday.

At half time S. Thomas’ were sitting pretty with a 12-0 lead. The game had its interesting points with the Thomian pack calling the trumps while the Isipatana outfit made their follies through bad handling and poor co-ordination. More than once the Isipatana winger Vishvamithra Jayasinghe showed glimpses of versatility down the flank, but, the rest of the flock seemed to have hardly noticed it.

Thomians put their first score on the board through their reliable second row forward barged over mid-right plant an unconverted try to send them 5 up. It took them another fifteen minutes to added on. This time they did it through skipper and No 8 Rohitha Rajapakse who gave the finishing touches to a forwards rush.

Centre Arjuna Manoharan was right with his conversion this time and the home team now enjoyed a lead of 12-0. The change over was called by referee Pradeep Fernando at this juncture. Ten minutes into the second half Thomians forged further ahead with a Niluka Wickrematilleke try which also went unconverted, but it seemed that they were well on their way.

However a while later the Isipatana centre three quarter dropped a kick over the cross bar from mid right from thirty metres out to reduce the defecit to 3-17.

Spurred by this Isipatana went into action and this time Damith Udayanga sliced through the entire Thomian defence to fall by the posts to which Dinusha Chathuranga added the extra points. Now very much closer the board read a tentative 10-17, but still in favour of the home team. The minutes ticking by and the man with the whistle looking at his stop watch Fonseka crossed the Thomian line, but, as the conversion failed the long whistle was blown and Patana had added another defeat on to their report card.

Under 12 STC
bt Isipatana 19-5
Under 14 Isipatana
bt S. Thomas 21-0
Under 16 S. Thomas
bt Isipatana 27-5

At Reid Avenue Royal too pulled off a surprise 25 points ( 5 tries) to 12 points (1g 1t) win over St. Anthony’s Katugastota after leading 10-5 at half time.

At Longden Place CR and FC beat CH and FC by a huge margin of 44 points to 8 points.

Thomians edge out Isipatana - 17-15

http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2008/06/01/spo05.asp

Thora in the nick of time