Royal in hard fought win against STC to retain the Gunaratne Trophy.
By Christopher Jordashe
In a thrilling game where the pendulum was swinging to and fro throughout not knowing who will reign supreme on the day.
At the start of the game STC gave a penalty for being in front the kicker and that ensued in a Royal line out,where we saw a driving maul being closer to the Thomian line.
From the ensuing ruck we saw Royal work their threes for the wing to score a well executed try by the right corner flag..The score read 7-0 in favour of royal.
Winners Royal College.
STC looked threatening near the Royal line but could not ground the ball & were held up.
At the 10th minute we saw STC get a 35 metre penalty for an infringement.Yehan was on target & STC reduced royals lead ,making it 7-3.
In the 14th minute STC tried another 55 metre penalty without much luck but was a near miss.
Royal came back strongly to score through their full back Pathirana after a few phases of good work by royals forwards and threes..Royal lead 12-3.
STC came back to score in the 30th through their famous pick and drive..Score 12-10
In the 33rd minute we saw Royal Forward being penalised for a neck tackle and a yellow card issued.
STC used that penalty to go to corner and from the ensuing line out a perfectly executed driving maul by STC saw Dehan to make STC take the lead 17-12.
At lemons STC led 17-12.
A shoulder charge by royal saw STC increase their lead further by 20-12..
However that lead was reduced by a mere 1 point after Royal scored through a pick and drive try that was goaled in the 53rd minute.Scores 19-20.
In the 64th minute Royal missed an oppurtunity as try was held up by STC.
In the last 2 minutes we saw Pathirana creep through to score to make it 26-20 and Royal deserved this victory and had less mistakes unlike STC who dropped crucial passes or knocked on in vital moments.
At times their kicking away possession was also helped Royal gain territorial advantage..
The Thomians tackled well but at times could not match the royal attack where we saw many overlaps and extra men when STC defense was not organised after a few phases .
Referee Clement Isaac handled the game well with his AR’s