CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Isipathana College produced a magnificent second-half rally to overpower Zahira College 39-10 in their Inter-Schools President’s Trophy Under-19 Knock-Out Rugby Tournament semi-final encounter played at Havelock Park.
The defending knock-out champions who went into half time with a slender 13-10 lead, cut loose after the break and went on to collect their points from three goals, three tries and one penalty.
Zahira, playing in the President’s Trophy Knock-Out Tournament after a long layoff, made a determined effort to make a match of it before they surrendered in the second half while scoring a goal and a penalty.
Isipathana, of course, took some time to settle down as they were still recovering after their massive setback where they surrendered the league championship to St. Peter’s College two weeks ago.
Not only that, but the lads from Havelock Park were also making their first appearance in this year’s knock-out tournament having received a bye into the semi-finals.
In contrast, Zahira were all fired up after their stunning victory over the favourites D. S. Senanayake College in the quarter-final last week at this same venue as they took the initiative by scoring an early try.
However, Isipathana did not panic, and they soon settled down to play their usual brand of rugby despite the wet conditions and went on to completely rattle their inexperienced opponents in the second half.
Burly prop forward M. R. Mohamed barged over for a pushover try and reliable place-kicker Ahmed Saad added the extra points to hand Zahira the early advantage in this vital encounter.
Isipathana hit back a few minutes later as their speedy back division got their act together well for the first time in the match with Hashen Randimal adding the finishing touches for a corner flag try.
Rinesh Silva fumbled with the conversion, but he made amends almost immediately by firing across a neat penalty to give Isipathana the lead for the first time in the match.
Randimal went over for his second try of the match as Isipathana extended their lead to 13-7 before Zahira reduced the deficit with a good penalty from full back Saad.
After the turnaround, Isipathana looked a completely dominant side as they produced some fantastic passages of play to touch down on four occasions through Chamindu Chirath, Iroshana Gamage, Nisaja Jayaweera and Avishka Hiran.
This will be Isipathana’s 14th appearance in the President’s Trophy Knock-Out Tournament final and they also have the greatest number of wins having emerged champions on 11 previous occasions.
