Trinity run riot with 58-5 demolition of Antonians
Title holders Trinity College continued their march in the second week of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2026, with a heavy rout of 58-5 against hometown rivals St Anthony’s College at Nittawela yesterday.
Coming confidently after their heavy 55-12 thumping against Lumbini College last week, Trinity continued their campaign to defend the title with a win that came after 10 tries and four conversions, while leading at half-time by 32-5. The Antonians, despite showing grit, were allowed to score from a solitary unconverted try.
The Antonians were tight in their defence, putting Trinity under pressure for nearly eight minutes until the home side found play in their opponent’s territory for the first time. Despite conceding a penalty, a timely interception by No. 8 Achintha Jayasena, who charged towards the tryline, posted Trinity’s first try, which went unconverted. With that breakthrough, Trinity gained momentum and added their second try with a running effort from winger Dimath Ambeypitiya, touching down in the 14th minute as the hosts led by 10-0.
Moving ahead with the thrust, winger Faizal received an uncanny offload from his skipper and fullback Shan Althaf, and dummied across the Antonian defence to run over for Trinity’s third try in the 17th minute. After two failed attempts, Faizal slotted the conversion to put his team ahead by 17-0.
The Antonians, already succumbing to pressure, were deceived by a penalty, as Trinity skipper Althaf delivered a cross kick from right to left to give Ambepitiya a clean collection to touch down in the 20th minute and put their team ahead by 22-0, with a failed conversion that followed. Ambeypitiya would repeat the same plot two minutes later to complete his hat-trick and put Trinity ahead by 27-0.
After futile attempts, the Antonians managed to seize control and execute their plan through a rolling maul, as lock Dinuka Jayasundara rolled over to score an unconverted try in the 26th minute and enter the scoreboard at 27-5. Despite already gaining a reputation for their newly adopted style of play of open, running and kicking rugby, Trinity proved they are very much an all-round unit with a perfect try from a rolling maul in the 30th minute, with lock Akash Fernando touching down to put his team ahead by 32-5 at half-time.
The game became intense after the resumption, despite the flow changing, with both teams taking up different approaches. Yet, Trinity continued their march with firm control, forcing the Antonians to decide between desperately defending or valiantly attacking. Prop Samash Fernando barged in with a try off a rolling maul in the 37th minute, and with Faizal’s conversion Trinity expanded the lead to 39-5.
Winger Faizal repeated his first-half heroics in the 48th minute, and put over his own try to have Trinity well ahead by 46-5. After a few failed cross kick attempts, skipper Althaf took matters into his own hands and scored two tries in the 59th and 69th minutes in similar fashion, with Faizal putting over one of them to seal a huge thumping against their hometown rivals by 58-5.