Isipatana prevail 34=29 over St. Peter’s to annex President’s Trophy
By Christopher Jordashe
An interesting game was witnessed in this schools dialog knockout final tournament under excellant ground conditions unlike the previous encounter ,where havelocks grounds were underfoot with heavy rain & virtually muddy conditions,where St Peter’s won that encounter narrowly.
Both teams must be congratulated for their effort although the 1st 20 mins into the game did not give us the brand of rugby spectators hoped for..It was a swinging pendulum for the most part of the game though with some good rugby dished out ,especially in the 2nd half.
We saw a disciplined performance by Patana when compared to the penalties given by them and lineouts won that truly helped their cause.
Both teams were every matched but Patana seem to have got their forwards perform better this time around with a much disciplined attitude in the rucks and mauls.
Patana got the first penalty in the 9th minute for SPC playing the ball on the while on the ground. However penalty was missed until the 14th minute where we saw Isipatana no 14 Azeez breeze through under the post to score a good try.
Zumri converted and they led 7-0.
Thereafter in the 20th minute we saw revon Fernando of SPC score a try through a maul but conversion failed by Peter. score read 7-5.
Patana scored another try through their forwards in the 24th minute .Score read 12-5.
It did not take long for SPC to come back and score through a pick and drive through Ridmal..Scores were level 12-12. Patana get yellow card for hitting the ball..
Patana came back to take the lead in the 30th minute through a easy penalty and scores were 15-12..Isipatana scores yet again at the stroke of half time through Nimantha by an excellant cross kick by Shahid Zumri..They lead 20-12 at lemons..
SPC get a penalty in the 37th minute for an infringement in the line out.Rahul Peter converts to make it 20-15.
Patana get another penalty for going over by SPC.Zumri converts and scoreline is 23-15..
We saw a peach of a try by pasindu on the 43rd minute .Peter converts and score is 23-22 in favour of patana with 1 point deficit.
A further penalty to patana in the 46th minute saw Zumri convert to make it 26-22..
SPC gave another penalty due to an off side offence and Zumri gladly puts it over to make it 29-22 in their favour.
Another Zumri special saw him score in the 60th minute off a three quarter move to make it 34-22..
SPC strike back again in the 64th minute to close the gap by a brilliant try on the right flank through Bandara who brushed a few defenders to score a typical copy book try.
A corner conversion by Peter made it 34-29..
SPC tried to breach the Patana defense in the last few minutes but their own mistakes could not get that try they wanted to level the game or win.
Hats off to Patana who came back to get this silverware and depriving SPC of a triple crown this year.Their disciplined performance helped them come back and win this President’s trophy after many years.
Commiserations to SPC who had an amazing winning streak this year to bag two coveted titles under Dulaj.
All augurs well for next season if teams continue in this spirit and play good rugby that entralls our spectators,fans and need to keep the game alive. Let’s hope rugby will be the winner always in the midst of a few controversies.
A wonderful job done by referee Ishanka Abeykoon and his AR’s ..