Laksiri De Silva
COLOMBO :Isipathana College hosted Royal College in a Super Round fixture of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024 Saturday,10 August at Havelock Park in Colombo.
This encounter was also for the prestigious Major Milroy Trophy Fernando Trophy. After a very tight contest where none of the two teams managed to gain a sizable lead, Isipathana escaped by a whisker after a last second penalty which Shaahid Zumri kicked through. The final scoreline of the clash was 19-18.
Both the teams had their opportunities in the first quarter of the game but there were no points scored from both the sides until the 22nd minute where Shaahid Zumri added 3 points for the visitors after an accidental offside infringement (IC 03 – 00 RC)
During the whole first half only 3 points were scored but two yellow cards were shown by the referee, the first one was shown to Thineth Gamage of Royal College for a late charge and then to Kaveen Tharusha from Isipathana College for a dangerous tackle. Other than that it was a cracking first half where both the sides displayed top notch rugby and defended their hearts out.
Half-Time : Isipathana College 03 – 00 Royal College
The first scoring opportunity of the second half arrived when the Royal College fullback tried to run from right to left rather than running forward and got isolated conceding a holding on penalty. Zumri with another successful kick through the posts increased the lead of the home team (IC 06 – 00 RC)
Royal College finally received an opportunity to add some points when an Isipathana player was caught offside while defending and the Royal skipper decided to go for the points and Nabeel Yahiya obliged decreasing the lead down to just 3 points (IC 06 – 03 RC)
But Isipathana managed to restore the 6 point lead after the Royal Tuskers conceded an offside penalty this time and Zumri with another good kick added the 3 points (IC 09 – 03 RC)
But straight from the restart kick after the successful penalty, Isipathana messed up big time by letting it bounce as the unpredictable nature of the oval shaped ball came into play. Royal managed to turn the ball over by inserting pressure and Thineth Gamage managed to go over for the first 5 pointer of the game. The conversion which would have given them the lead didn’t go through as the home team still had a 1 point buffer (IC 09 – 08 RC)
Feeling the pressure of the Royal College comeback, Isipathana continued to make mistakes as this time a get out of jail kick from Abdullah Faizer was charged down and while trying to recover the ball Isipathana gave away a penalty for holding on. Royal Skipper went for the safe option of getting the lead and Idris Farouk added the 3 to give his team the lead for the first time in the encounter (IC 09 – 11 RC)
With less than 20 minutes to go, the Green Machine received a holding on penalty and they went for the territory gaining kick as Faizer took his team inside the opposition 22m line. From a brilliant line-out they worked the ball from left to right as Zumri found space in between the last two defenders of Royal to the right of the field and went over for an important try. Avishka Hiran converted the try to increase the lead for the home team (IC 16 – 11 RC)
Going into the last 10 minutes of the game, the Royal Tuskers upped the ante and their forwards used their power game to perfection. While trying to defend, a Yellow Card was also shown to an Isipathana player which meant they had to play the remainder of the game with 1 less man on the field. The forwards kept hitting hard and although the home team tried hard to defend, Akira Yatawara found the whitewash to make it all even. Farouk converted the try as the cheers from the Royal fans echoed around the stadium (IC 16 – 18 RC)
With the game coming into the last few seconds, Isipathana knocked the ball forward while working their line and it looked like it was curtains for the Green Machine. But one of the Isipathana players fell to the ground and the referees decided to check with the TMO and Dinka Peiris decided that Althaf Aman pushed the Isipathana player after the whistle and a penalty should be awarded to Isipathana. All Zumri had to do was to kick it through from a distance of around 25m and he did exactly that as Isipathana College supporters stormed into the ground with the referee blowing the whistle for full-time (IC 19 – 18 RC)
It was a game for the ages between two well known rivals in the Schools Rugby circuit and it went right down the wire with a little mixture of controversy to spice things up. But in the end it was Isipathana College who have played a lot of close games this season that managed to walkout with another win and head into the last week setting up a rematch from last year against the defending champions St. Peter’s College which will be the league decider. This was a much needed win for Isipathana as if they lost, that would have made St. Peter’s College the champions even without going for the last week.
Shahid Zumri scored 17 out of the 19 points of Isipathana and he was deemed NDB Bank Player of the Match. He scored the solitary try for Isipathana and kicked through the all important last penalty under immense pressure. He will be a marked man for sure come next week and Isipathana will be hoping his heroics will continue against the defending champions.
Full Time : Isipathana College 19 (1T 1C 4P) beat Royal College 18 (2T 1C 2P)
NDB Bank Player of the Match : Shahid Zumri (IC) : Courtesy The Papare School Rugby
