Isipathana clinch schools under 14 and 16 rugby titles

RUGBY: Isipatana continued their domination in the schools rugby scene by winning the under 14 10 A-side and under 16 15-A side titles in the schools league finals of Western Province played on Sunday.
The Isipatana under 14 team beat S. Thomas, Mt. Lavinia by 5 points to nil in a nerve tingling match, while the Isipatana under 16 beat St. Joseph's College, Colombo by 20 points (4 tries) to nil which was witnessed by a capacity crowd at the Royal Sports Complex on July 15. It was nice to see spectators cheer right throughout the game.
The only try scored for the under 14 Pathana team was by nippy scrum half Thabis Mowlana (the skipper) who had a grand game by planting a superb try brushing aside several defenders while the under 16 Pathanians who played gallantly planted four tries.
The try scorers were M. Rizwan, Thahir Ali, A. Chathurana and Ishun, who scored one try each.
These league matches were worked off from June 12 and Finals were held on 15th July, 15 schools (U 14 & 16) qualified to play in the Finals. The cup final was refereed by D. Nimal.
Vice Rector of St. Joseph's College Father Sugath Gunathilaka , M. A. P. Fernando (Principal Wesley College) and Susantha Mendis (Secretary WPSRFA) graced the occasion.
Under 14: Cup - Isipatana College beat St. Thomas College 5 points to nil.
Plate: Joint Champs Ananda College and Wesley College 14 points all.
Bowl: Mahanama College beat Prince of Wales 49 points to nil.
Shield: D. S. Senanayake College beat Nalanda College 33 points to 5, while the Saucer was won by Asoka Vidyalaya who beat St. Sebastian College (Kandana) 28 to nil.
Under 16: Cup: Isipatana College beat St. Joseph's College 20 points to nil.
Plate: St. Thomas College (Mt. Lavinia) beat Mahanama College 12 points to 8.
Bowl: D. S. Senanayake College beat Nalanda College 17 points to nil.

Isipathana strikes thrice and drowns Trinity

By Aubrey Kuruppu
*Isipathana 18*Trinity 10
Isipathana struck thrice in the first half and then held on to win by 18 points (3 tries, 1 penalty) to 10 (2 tries) in the face of a resolute fight back by Trinity in a fast-paced, open game of rugby at Pallekele yesterday.Trinity strove hard to pierce the Isipathana defence early on but was stalled by the latter’s terrific tackling and the fine linekicking of full back Reza Mubarak. Significantly, Mubarak was injured after about 20 minutes and left the field. Trinity capitalized on that.

The story of the day…..An Isipathana player thwarts another Trinity move (Pic by Shane Seneviratne)

Isipathana entered Trinity territory twice in the first 15 minutes and scored on both occasions. After the fly half had made a side-stepping run into Trinity’s 22, the ball changed hands and winger Kasun Gamage went over. Minutes later, a beautiful three quarter move saw centre Dinusha Chaturanga make the score 10-0.
In the 20th minute, Isipathana’s threes swept into action. This time the other winger Vishvamitra Jayasinghe scored to make it 15-0.
The writing seemed to be on the wall for the lions but they came back well. Minutes before half time, skipper Sean Wanigasekera scored off a forwards rush to make it 15-5 at lemons.
Number 8 Jazeer Hassan brought the house down with a spectacular 35-yard burst down the centre. Only a desperate clearance by a lone defender saved the day for the visitors.
A penalty converted by lock Waruna Priyanthage increased the tally to 18-5. Quick thinking by the Trinity skipper resulted in Trinity’s second try scored by left winger Azver Marzook.
Territorially this was Trinity’s game but they made mistakes aplenty and handed the advantage back to their doughty opponents. Isipathana’s backs were superb and very penetrative, specially early on. Number 8 Sajith Saranga had a terrific game for the winners.
Early on, it seemed that Trinity suffering from post Bradby depression and end of season blues. To their credit however, they got their act together later. This match was played as a friendly and not as a tournament game.
Referee: Orville Fernando.Under 12 – 7 all; Under 14 – 7 all; Under 16 trinity won 46-nil.

Trinity-Isipatana clash on July 7

Ranjeeva Seneviratne
RUGBY: One of the most looked forward to confrontations in the schools rugby calendar - the encounter between Trinity College, Kandy and Isipatana College, Colombo will take place in Pallekelle Rugby Stadium on July 7 (Saturday).
The Trinity-Isipatana encounters have always produced rugby of a very high standard and this year another enthralling encounter is on the cards. With the two teams being evenly balanced a close tussle for supremacy can be expected.
The Trinity-Isipatana rugby series began in 1981 with Ravi Bandaranayake's Trinitians winning the inaugural match by 9 points to 3 at Nittawela while in the following year Isipatana emerged victorious by 7-3 at Longden Place with skipper Dilroy Fernando scoring the match winning try.
This trend continued with Trinity winning in Kandy and Isipatana emerging triumphant in Colombo till 1996 when Bandula Mallikarachchi's Isipatanians broke the Kandy hoodoo with a 20-13 win at Bogambara. Five years later in 2001 Tisal Jayawardena's Trinitians ended the Colombo jinx with a stunning 6-3 win at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The series tally stands at 12 wins to Isipatana and nine to Trinity with three games ending in draws-1990 (4-all), 1992 (13-all) and 1993 (five-all). In 1991 a friendly match was played between the two schools as Isipatana did not play competitive rugby. While in the year 2000, the match was not played due to a dispute between the two schools regarding the venue.
The Trinitians won last year's match at Bogambara by 17 points to 11 while Isipatana emerged triumphant in 2005 by edging out Trinity 6-5 at Havelock Park. The biggest win in the series was registered by Anuranga Walpola's Isipatanians when they beat Trinity by the staggering margin of 43 points to 8 at Pallekelle while Trinity's highest was recorded two years later when the 'Lions' led by Dhammika Senarath scored a resounding 25-7 win at the Bogambara Stadium.