Peterites edge past Isipathana in tight contest
St. Peter’s College held their nerve to register a hard-fought 14-7 victory over Isipathana College in a Cup Segment encounter of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 played at Bambalapitiya yesterday.
In a game that never really rose to great heights, both teams struggled to find rhythm, with defences dominating much of the play. However, it was the Peterites who made better use of their limited opportunities, scoring two converted tries to Isipathana’s single converted effort.
St. Peter's returned to their winning ways against Isipathana - Pic by Eshan Fernando
St. Peter’s struck early, breaching the Isipathana defence in the 11th minute when No.8 Shenuka Perera powered his way over the line. Fullback Senuth Dinsara made no mistake with the conversion, giving the Peterites a 7-0 lead. From that point on, the first half saw both sides locked in a midfield battle, with neither able to add to the scoreline as they headed into the break with the Peterites narrowly ahead.
The second half continued in much the same vein, with the Peterites maintaining territorial advantage but finding it difficult to convert pressure into points. Their persistence paid off in the 49th minute when prop Ashaz Akram crashed over for their second try. Once again, Dinsara added the extras to stretch their lead to 14-0.
Isipathana, however, refused to give in. Showing determination and flair, they began to trouble the Peterite defence. Their efforts were rewarded when centre Nimantha Sandeepa pierced through for a well-worked try, which was successfully converted by the flyhalf, reducing the deficit to 14-7.
Buoyed by the breakthrough, Isipathana pushed hard in the closing stages and created several scoring opportunities, but poor execution and strong Peterite defence denied them further points.