Isipatana bury Kingswood 32-8 with a powerful display of rugby

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Last year’s schools’ rugby champions Isipatana College opened their campaign for the league title contesting in the Division 1 Segment A Group 1 against Kingswood with a smashing 32 points to 8 win in a keenly contested match at Bogambara Stadium on Sunday (June 18).

The winners collected their points through five tries, two conversions and a penalty while the host team could only manage to respond with an unconverted try and a penalty. Isipatana led 20-0 at half time.

Skipper Naveen Kanishka was in the thick of things and not only marshalled the Isipatana College players well, but also handled the wet ball well and the slippery conditions on the field to set up the victory.

His try in the first half was a beauty and his line kicking was accurate and intelligent. Isipatana earned three tries in the first half apart from a conversion and a penalty, which came off the boot of Rinesh Silva.Kingswood came into the game with a purpose in the second half and earned a try off prop Ishara and a penalty off the boot of Imanka Ishara.

Isipatana drove the nail into the Kingsood ‘coffin’ with the final try of the match late in the second half when playmaker Shaheed Zumri chased a kick deep into the Kingswood territory and fell on the loose ball.

Kingswood’s Ishan Inoor played like a warrior but lacked support.Rajans produced magic to down Trinity

In a crucial match of the Division 1 Segment A Group 2 match played on Saturday at Bogambara Dharmaraja College produced a memorable win against Trinity College. Dharmaraja edged out Trinity 17 points to 15.

St. Peter’s College started with a bang this season in their Division 1 Segment A Group 2 match when they downed their opponents by 11 points to 5 with the Peterites prevailing in this game with extra two penalties apart from the try each scored by the two teams.

S. Thomas’ won the Sir Oliver Goonatilake Shield when they beat Wesley by 19 points to 13 in a closely fought out encounter played at Mount Lavinia.On Friday, Vidyartha got the better of Science College at Bogambara when they recorded an exciting 26 points to 19 win. The winners ran in four tries as against Science who managed to cross the line only thrice in this game.