Isipatana College survived a fierce late rally from Royal College to register an exciting 17 points to 12 points victory in their Singer Inter-School Under-20 Division One Group 'A' League Rugby Tournament match worked off at Longden Place, yesterday.
Isipatana also retained the Major Milroy Fernando Memorial Trophy. They collected their points from two goals and one penalty after having led 14-12 at half-time. Royal College responded with one goal and one try.
This was also Isipatana's first win for the season following last week's 10-29 defeat at the hands of Trinity College Kandy played at this same venue. But this time they certainly came out with an improved performance and went on to register a morale boosting victory at the end.
Even then they were really tested during the last few minutes of the game following a superb late rally by the Royal forwards. The team from Reid Avenue of course missed two certain tries during this vital stage of the game and eventually they ran out of time.
Isipatana defended their goal well with a determined performance and counter attack occasionally that surprised their opponents. In fact both tries for Isipatana came in this style in the space of less than one minute. First it was skipper Dinesh Chaturanga who broke off almost from inside their territory following a Royal blunder before scoring under the post.
The dynamic centre three quarter sprinted well over sixty meters while brushing aside two defenders and also added the extra points to give them an early lead. Then almost with the kick off winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe sliced through the Royal defence following a loose maul and powered his way to touch down under the posts. Prasad Devinda made no mistake with the conversion.
However Royal recovered magnificently thereafter and soon reduced the margin to 12-14 with a splendid performance. They were awarded a penalty try after their three quarters had worked their way beautifully but was obstructed by an Isipatana defender.
Full back Shailendra Chandrasekera added the extra points from under the post to make it 7-14. Royal kept their opponents pinned inside their territory for a long period while forcing a series of five metre scrums before winger Chandraratne powered his way to touch down near the corner flag. Chandrasekera fumbled with the difficult conversion.
Isipatana of course had limited opportunities in the second half but they managed to put over a penalty through Dinesh Chaturanga and increased their lead to 17-12 a score which stood until the final whistle.
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