St. Peter's College survived a fierce second half rally from Isipatana College to register a thrilling 8-7 victory in their Singer inter school under 20 Division One Group A league rugby tournament match worked off at Havelock Park yesterday.
The Peterites scored an unconverted try and put over a penalty in the first half to take an 8 nil lead at half time before Isipatana came back strongly to score a goal during the latter stages of the game. The defending champions St. Peter's College thus completed the league tournament on a winning note and this was their sixth victory and had two defeats from their eight outings.
This was the third occasion that Isipatana had come closer of pulling off the game having figured in two similar close encounters against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia and Kingswood College Kandy respectively.
St. Peter's College took the lead following a superb push over try from their prop forward Lahiru Kumara. Winger Amila Fernando failed with the conversion but later made amends by putting over a crucial penalty shortly before half time.
Isipatana College recovered well and kept their hopes alive to a great extent by scoring a goal in the 16th minute of the second half. Centre Vishwamithra Jayasinghe scored their try while adding the finishing touches to a superb three quarter move.
Skipper Dinusha Chaturanga added the extra points and Isipatana had reduced the margin to a single point at that stage. But St. Peter's College held on determinedly with a solid defence and survived a tense last few moments before registering an exciting victory at the end.
