The Peterites showed that they are strong contenders to be the top team in schools rugby this season with a good 31 points (4 goals, 1 penalty) to 10 (2 tries) win over Trinity at Pallekelle yesterday.
The margin of victory may be substantial but in truth Trinity didn’t deserve such a fate. They attacked more often and spent most of the time in Peterite territory. However a little more thinking play - the forming of an overlap is one example that would have paid more dividends.
A Trinity player tries to run through two Peterite defenders. |
The Peterites entered the Trinity half on one or two occasions in the first twenty five minutes of the second half but those visits were very fruitful. Skipper Keith Gurusinghe, the number eight, picked up from a scrum, passed to Meedin, the scrum half, who worked the blind side for Soyuru Anthony to score. Dulash Perera converted (17-5).
Trinity started the match by attacking and dominated the first twenty minutes. Not surprisingly, they were first on the board with an eighth minute try by winger Mohammed Sheshan. This scoring effort originated from a ruck and was a fourth phase move. Fly half Yatawara could not add the extra points.
The Peterites came back well to overhaul the Trinity lead when centre Dhanushka Ranjan fell over after a 55 metre run. The feature of this try was the fine support play of the Peterites. Fly half Dulash Perera converted to give the visitors a 7-5 lead and shortly after that, put over a penalty for good measure (10-5). This was the score at half time.
Dulash Perera was awry with two more penalty conversions which, if they were put over, would have put the game beyond Trinity’s reach.
There were gaps in the Peterite defence which the Trinitians could not exploit, possibly due to the fact that the back division lacked a little bit of speed. On the run of play, Trinity should have scored one, if not two tries in this half.
Territorially, the first half was Trinity’s, with the Peterites advancing into their territory only on one occasion in the first twenty five minutes or so. The battle for possession was also won by the Lions.
The Peterits were scenting blood at 17-5, and Gurusinghe got the ball from a ruck and worked the short side to score. Meedin converted to give the Petes a big 24-5 lead.
Trinity cut the deficit when winger Akila Dissanaike went over the right corner flag for an unconverted try (24-10).
The last Peterite try in the dying minutes of the game was the icing on the cake. The ball came out their way off a maul; Dhanushka Ranjan chipped, collected, and scored his third try. Meedin converted this, too, to make the final score 31-10.
Referee Dilroy Fernando.
Other games: Under 12 - SPC 29 TCK 0; Under 14 - SPC 10 TCK 7; Under 16 - TCK 12 SPC 0; Under 18- TCK 15 SPC 5. |
E-mail
