Joes thrash Sri Sumangala
A strong and dominative performance by St. Joseph’s College enabled them to a 10-try win against giant killers Sri Sumangala College, Kandy, who were thrashed by 67-7 in a final first round game of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 at Longdon Place yesterday.
The Josephians braced 10 tries, with lock Janith Marasinghe and hooker Minduka Perera going over twice each, while skipper and flyhalf Bheeshma Jayasekara raked up 22 points out of the total with the seven conversions and a penalty, in addition to a try. They led 27-7 at halftime, as Sri Sumangala managed to penetrate the Josephian defence just once shortly before the break with prop Mohamed Akram’s try and flyhalf Pasindu Samarakoon’s conversion.
Other than that, it was St. Joseph’s who made a total rampage from the word go, scoring through flanker Ashen Kumar in the second minute to take an early lead of 7-0, following Jayasekara’s conversion. Marasinghe completed a forward move to give his side their second try in the 10th minute, as Jayasekara added the extra points to expand the lead to 14-0.
With the Josephians totally owning the show, hooker Minduka Perera joined the party as he crashed off a maul in the 17th minute to post an unconverted try to make it 19-0. Jayasekara, who missed the conversion, made it up with a penalty in the 24th minute after St. Joseph’s opted to go for the three-pointer after centre Brian Fernando was handed a yellow card in the 20th minute.
Even with 14 men, the Josephians were in full control of the flow, as Perera landed his second try in the 27th minute, which went unconverted, yet took the lead to 27-0. But Sri Sumangala gelled together as a unit for the first and perhaps last, that resulted in Arkam’s try that sent them for the breather with some points on the board with St. Joseph’s leading 27-7.
After the turnaround it was St. Joseph’s all the way, as Jayasekara opted to take matters to his own hands and cross over for a try in the 36th minute, while adding the extra points to further widen the lead 34-7. No.8 Inosh Silva braced a try in the 42nd minute to give Jayasekara an easy conversion as St. Joseph’s sail through to reach a lead of 41-7.
With the Josephian camp opting to give on-filed opportunity to their bench, winger Shanilka Cooray proved his worth with a running, but unconverted try in the 55th minute and four minutes on Marasinghe helped his side achieve the magical figure of 53 against their opponent’s solitary seven.
During the last 10 minutes Sri Sumangala attempted to pose threats against the Josephians who had almost entirely utilised their bench strength. Yet, the hosts proved otherwise with converted tries from replacement wingers Sathira Gunathilaka in the 65th minute and Thevan Kithnuka in the 70th minute as St. Joseph’s walked out of the park with their heads held high after a commanding 67-7 win.