Second half rally takes Joes through

By Shamseer Jaleel

St. Joseph’s College 24 points

St. Anthony’s College 11 points

St. Joseph’s College came from behind with the help of some brilliant three-quarter running rugby to beat St. Anthony’s College Katugastota by 24 points (2 goals, 2 tries) to 11 points (1 try, 2 penalties) in a Singer League Under-20 encounter which concluded at the Bogambara Stadium yesterday.

At halftime the Antonians led 8-5.

The Antonians played well in the initial half and looked very threatening with all of their moves. Their team was well supported by skipper Amarasinghe, a reliable placekicker, Samuel Maduwantha and lock Mohamed Shabeer. The Joes defended for most of the first half but came back into the game with some powerful runs down the line, with the team receiving strong support from Chathura Seneviratne, Gemunu Cheethiya and Sachith Silva.

St. Anthony’s try was scored by skipper Amarasinghe with Maduwantha putting over two penalty kicks. The tries for the Darley Road lads came from Gamunu Cheethiya, Shehan Eranda, Sachith Silva and Chathura Seneviratne. Silva converted two of them. The referee for the game was Irshard Cader. With this win St. Joseph’s keeps alive their hopes of ending up within the top 4 of their group.