It was down to a battle between the Trinity forwards and the Isipathana three-quarters from the outset of the game but
the Pathana forwards took the game to the Trinity pack and dominated
the scrums and the line outs right through the course of the game. The Isipathana coach Viraj Prasanna came out with some good tactical moves to stop the Lions in their tracks in the set pieces.
Trinity took the early lead in the contest through a Rehan Weerakoon penalty when an Isipathana player was caught handling in the ruck. The cool headed Weerakoon had no problem with the three pointer to send the Lions in front. Isipathana then got the chance to equalize through the boot of skipper Devinda Prasad but he failed to convert.
The Trinity center combination of Dilshan Kalaniyagoda and Kanil Seneviratne showed what they were capable of as they put on some hard runs for the Kandy team. Seneviratne in particular gave a lot of stick to his opposite number as he ran hard at good angles to take the Lions over the gain line.Weerakoon then had the opportunity to extend the lead with another tough penalty and sent the kick over the sticks for the joy of many Trinity supporters present at the Royal Complex.
Pathana with some good flowing rugby then scored through skipper Prasad off a set move to take the lead with the conversion coming from Shanaka Kumara. Prasad getting the ball after a forward hit on the left corner came in as first receiver to hop his way over for the first try of the game. Isipathana leading 7-6.
Trinity took the early lead in the contest through a Rehan Weerakoon penalty when an Isipathana player was caught handling in the ruck. The cool headed Weerakoon had no problem with the three pointer to send the Lions in front. Isipathana then got the chance to equalize through the boot of skipper Devinda Prasad but he failed to convert.
The Trinity center combination of Dilshan Kalaniyagoda and Kanil Seneviratne showed what they were capable of as they put on some hard runs for the Kandy team. Seneviratne in particular gave a lot of stick to his opposite number as he ran hard at good angles to take the Lions over the gain line.Weerakoon then had the opportunity to extend the lead with another tough penalty and sent the kick over the sticks for the joy of many Trinity supporters present at the Royal Complex.
Pathana with some good flowing rugby then scored through skipper Prasad off a set move to take the lead with the conversion coming from Shanaka Kumara. Prasad getting the ball after a forward hit on the left corner came in as first receiver to hop his way over for the first try of the game. Isipathana leading 7-6.
Trinity was quick to take
the lead again through a try from Dilshan Kalaniyagoda. Scrum half
Sanjaya Somasiri taking a quick tap passed the ball to Weerakoon who
skip-passed to Thisala Devinda who took on two defenders before offloading to Kalaniyagoda to score their first try. With that score the Lions went in to half time with a 4 point lead 11-7
The second half saw some fierce battles upfront with Isipathana taking it forward through their number eight Prasad Madushanka. He together with flanker Sajid Suhaib had an admirable outing in the loose for Pathana.
Referee Irshad Carder felt the pressure of the finals as he had a shocker of a game making plenty of errors in both halves of the game. Many scoring opportunities were lost for both teams due to this and they had to toil even harder to get points on the board. Trinity made inroads to the Pathana half again through their hard hitting three's which resulted in young winger Thisala Devinda going over for a valuable try. The big-made winger powered his way through a couple of defenders to score and extend the lead for Trinity. The Lions siege ahead with this try but there was still some fight left in the Pathana lad’s especially full back Shanaka Kumara who had an excellent outing. The small made full back was hit hard by the Trinity players but still managed to get back on his feet and take it forward for Isipathana.
Randhika Alwis then finished things off for the Lions with a forceful try to take it beyond the Pathanians. There was however a late rally by Pathana but they could not breach the impressive Trinity defense.
Devinda Prasad must be kicking himself as he gave away valuable possession by just kicking aimlessly in to the hands of the Trinity backline who counter attacked with a lot of purpose.
The final whistle signaled a Trinity win after 18 year last winning in 1993 under Nalin Muhandiramge where they tamed the same opposition 17-10 . It was a magical moment for Trinity and a super end for an exciting schools season.
Friday 30th September, 2011 - The Papare
The second half saw some fierce battles upfront with Isipathana taking it forward through their number eight Prasad Madushanka. He together with flanker Sajid Suhaib had an admirable outing in the loose for Pathana.
Referee Irshad Carder felt the pressure of the finals as he had a shocker of a game making plenty of errors in both halves of the game. Many scoring opportunities were lost for both teams due to this and they had to toil even harder to get points on the board. Trinity made inroads to the Pathana half again through their hard hitting three's which resulted in young winger Thisala Devinda going over for a valuable try. The big-made winger powered his way through a couple of defenders to score and extend the lead for Trinity. The Lions siege ahead with this try but there was still some fight left in the Pathana lad’s especially full back Shanaka Kumara who had an excellent outing. The small made full back was hit hard by the Trinity players but still managed to get back on his feet and take it forward for Isipathana.
Randhika Alwis then finished things off for the Lions with a forceful try to take it beyond the Pathanians. There was however a late rally by Pathana but they could not breach the impressive Trinity defense.
Devinda Prasad must be kicking himself as he gave away valuable possession by just kicking aimlessly in to the hands of the Trinity backline who counter attacked with a lot of purpose.
The final whistle signaled a Trinity win after 18 year last winning in 1993 under Nalin Muhandiramge where they tamed the same opposition 17-10 . It was a magical moment for Trinity and a super end for an exciting schools season.
Friday 30th September, 2011 - The Papare
re-edited by sameera
