Sylvesters see green, green grass and Isipathana
Isipathana threw down a sign for one way traffic and proceeded to dismantle a befuddled St. Sylvester’s College with some easy offense and power, trooping to a 22 (1 goal, 3 tries)-0 victory in the final match of day one of the Singer Inter-Schools Under 20 Seven-a-side Rugby Tournament, which was held at the Royal College Sports Complex yesterday.
Isipathana inflicted its scoring damage through Prop Omalka Guneratna (2), Prop Chathura Dilshan and Winger Asitha Gayashan,
Their win launches them into a scintillating clash against Wesley College in one of today’s four quarter-finals.
Try as they did, St. Sylvester’s College could do little to stall the storming Pathanians. - Pic by Amila Gamage.
The Pathanians made absolutely conspicuous the great gulf in skill, pace and strength that existed between the teams from the opening kick. With barely two minutes on the clock, Guneratna brushed aside a desperate challenge like a bad habit before speeding over the tryline for the game’s first points. Scrum Half Sudam Pavrinda added the extra points through a tricky conversion.
Three minutes later St. Sylvester’s were struck down by another sweeping green wave of offense. Working the ball quickly down the line, Isipathana freed Gayashan on the right corner of the field and he wasted little time scoring another body blow for his side by collapsing over the line for an unconverted try
Two minutes after a brief interval, Omalka manufactured another brilliant move, traveling from near the halfway line to weave a deadly path through St. Sylvester’s defence and score another unconverted try.
As the match drew closer to its lopsided denouement, Isipathana squeezed in one more try to complete a dominant performance. St. Sylvester’s, despite grittily holding their ground, were bulldozed by a marauding Dilshan, who bullied his way over the line for a try which went unconverted, but stung just as much for St. Sylvester’s.
Their quarter-final opponents, Wesley College were equally imperious when they dispatched of Mahanama by 17-0. Today’s other quarter-final clashes will be played between St. Peter’s College and Royal College and Kingswood College and Trinity College while Dharmaraja College will clash with St. Joseph’s College.