Isipatana in exciting 17-12 win over Royal

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.

Trinity in smashing 29-10 win over Isipatana

Trinity College Kandy produced a powerful display to bring down their arch rivals the high riding Isipatana outfit by 29 points to 10 in their Singer inter school under 20 Group A division one league rugby tournament match worked off at Longden Place yesterday.

The Trinitians going in as the underdogs completely stunned their opponents and collected their points from two goals and three tries having led 15-7 at half time. Isipatana managed to score a solitary goal and put over a penalty.

This was a fantastic effort from Trinity College considering the fact that the odds were heavily against them with just one coloursman in their ranks. But they dished out some absorbing rugby under wet conditions while proving their talent and potential.

In fact the wet ball and the soggy ground conditions did not prevent them from playing their natural run and pass game with some of the moves been initiated from their own territory.

Trinity College played with a lot of confidence as the match progressed and scored two late tries that completely sealed the game in their favour. Until then Isipatana of course had an outside chance of pulling off the game as they were trailing by a close margin of 10 points to 15 for a long period.

This was the stage that Trinity College really played their hearts out and held their nerves against an all out attack from the home side. They kept their goal line in check with a solid defence during this crucial period before adding the finishing touches in style.

Trinity College in fact got off to a flying start following two splendid tries during the first fifteen minutes of play. They made their intentions quite clear from the kick off and did extremely well to convert their possession into points.

Speedy centre three quarter Wishwajith Wijesinghe stole the limelight while crossing over the opponents goal line twice after they had formed the overlap quite beautifully. The Trinity halves combination of Adeep Hamid and Abdul Fahard gave a good account of themselves while initiating a number of scoring opportunities.

The Trinity forwards enjoyed a great amount of possession and scored their third try through flanker Rushmi Ramzin mid way in the first half. Isipatana responded almost immediately following a clever piece of work from scrum half Srinath Suriyabandara.

Isipatana then came closer to levelling the scores following a crucial 25 metre penalty from Dinusha Chaturanga shortly after the interval. But from there onwards Trinity College held the centre stage with a fine all round performance with fly half Abdul Fahard scoring their fourth try.

Trinity’s final try came during injury time following an obstruction with the referee D. Nimal awarding a penalty try which was converted by Kennon Armstrong.

Isipathana wins All island 7's

At the qualifiers Isipathana beat St. Aloysius by 56/00 with ease and on the nextday beat Vidyartha by 40/00. Biggest upset of the tournament was done byMahanama who beat Kingswood by 17 (1 goal, 2 tries) to 14 (2 goals).
Isipathana beat DS Senanayake by 42/05 (only points againstus). Captain Dinusha touched 3 tries 2 conversions), Ashan Gallage(Another 16 year old) with 1 try, Vishawa with 1 try and Devinda with 1 tryand 4 conversions.
At the final we met Ananda which wanted their revenge of 46/00 at lastweek's western province 7s. The final score 48/00 (4 goals, 4 tries) got the points in evenly (24points at each half). Vishwamithre with 3 tries, Dinusha 2 tries and a 1conversion, Devinda with 1 try and 3 conversions, Ashan Gallage with 1try and Deshan with 1 try.

Isipathana Wins Western provice 7's

Isipatana College clinched the Cup Championship defeating St. Joseph's College 21 nil in the Western Province Under-20 inter-school seven-a-side rugby tournament concluded at the CR and FC grounds in Longden Place yesterday.
Isipatana collected their points from three goals with all scoring been done in the first half. Sajith Saranga, Srinath Suriyabandara and Dineshka Chaturanga scored a try each with the latter converting all three tries.
In the semifinals, Isipatana trounced S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia by 37 points to nil after leading 15 nil at half time. St. Joseph's College came from behind to beat Mahanama College 24-12. S. Thomas' College however made amends by lifting the Plate Championship with a convincing 26 points to 12 points victory over Mahanama. The
In the Bowl Championship final Ananda College defeated Royal College, Panadura by 31 points to nil. In the Shield final Lumbini MV staged a good second half rally to beat Zahira College 24-17. C.D

Isipatana college inter house rugby matches

Isipatana college inter house rugby matches ended last week at our own grounds. Iqbal House won the under 19 title.

This event was organized by shamly nawaz(1998 Captain of isipatana team) and his team mates. (year 1998/99/2000).

Petes win in virtual darkness

St. Peter’s 23 - Isipatana 13

In almost total darkness, St. Peter’s defeated Isipatana by 23 points (2 goals and three penalties) to 13 (1 goal and 2 penalties) to retain the President’s Trophy at the Royal College Sports Complex yesterday. The league Champions St. Peter’s thus brought the curtain down on this extra long school season of rugby which seemed that it never would end at one stage. The game ended in virtual darkness at 6.23 p.m.
The score line does not quite reflect how hard Isipatana fought. In the first 20 minutes Isipatana practically parked themselves in Peterite territory allowing the victors to venture out on only two occasions. With just four minutes gone Isipatana’s fullback Riza Mubarak missed a golden opportunity to put his team ahead by pushing his kick at goal wide of the posts.
The first score was made in the dying stages of the first half when Peterite centre Harsha Weerakkody converted a penalty. Almost off the restart Mubark made amends for his earlier error by drawing his side level. Despite the territorial advantage Isipatana turned over the ball too many times as did the Peterites.
At lemons the scores were deadlocked at three all.
The second half started with Weerakkody fluffing a penalty in front of the posts. Eleven minutes later Weerakkody did get it right to give his side a narrow three point advantage. It took two individual moments of brilliance to seal a win for the Peterites.
First fly half Meedin sent a penaty kick deep in to Isipatana territory. Off the ensuing line out, the Peterites drove to within two metres of the line. The ball came out and Meedin touched down under the posts. Weerakkody made no mistake with the conversion. Isipatana at the time were down to 13 men and the Peterites made the numbers count. Shortly after the Meedin’s moment in the limelight, skipper Ranuka Jayasinghe got into the act. Awarded a scrum near Isipatana’s ten metre line Jayasinghe collecred the ball, sent a grubber kick and followed it to touch down. Weerakkody converted and also put over another penalty during injury time. In between Isipatana managed to touch down courtesy Damith Udayanga. And the try was converted by Mubarak.

Referee – Aruna Jayasekera.

Singer 7s Champions

Pathana made the ' HATRICK ' of sevens for the season after Thurstan 7s, All Island 7s and now making a clean sweep at the Singer 7s yesterday beating Kingswood seven points to nil, at the rain ruined final and which was not good at all for sevens and specially to green style of play.. First half went nil all and right after the final time hooter, twenty meters from Kingswood line prop Niroshan Chathuranga made a perfect delayed long pass to his left and winger Kasun Gamage was at the receiving end touched the line at the corner flag. Riza Mubarak made it seven when he banged the brilliant drop from the corner.It was the scrum half Srinath Sooriyabandara the smallest guy who made a brilliant tackle to the biggest on the park (Kingswood skipper) to stop the possible try on a two on one situation. Immaculate defence was a lesson to be learn to the national side from Pathana when they defended heavy 'set' of Kingswood virtually at Pathana line for a quite some time and made the turn over. To me it was the kick and chase' of center Dinusha Chathuranga which shook Kingswood when on the attack he punted the ball and made concrete tackle to the collector. At the semi Pathana beat St. Peters, quarters beat St. Thomas and in the qualifying rounds beat vidyartha and Dharmaraja.This encounter was sweet revenge for the GREEN JERSEY as they beat Kingswood for the third time on the row in both form of the game (15-a-side & 7s) in this season.