Wesley create major upset

By Shamseer Jaleel

Wesley College created the first upset of the President Trophy Rugby 2018 when they edged out the much-fancied Isipathana outfit, courtesy of a last minute try after the game was deadlocked at 15 apiece with the game going in to injury time. They will now meet the Peterites who beat the Antonians in the other quarterfinal encounter.

St. Peter’s College had an easy outing when they outclassed the disorganised Antonian outfit 39-12 in a six-try blitz. At the short breather the Peterites led 19-0.

Abdullah Fais, Julian Charles, Nizran Nillar, and Jason Karunaratne had an outstanding game in both defence as well as in attack. The lads from Bambalapitiya, after missing out on the Singer League 2018, will aim at the Milo knockout under their Head Coach Sanath Martis, who is regarded as the best schools coach in the country at present.

The Antonians, going through a very bad season, lost out on their Head Coach and their old boy Sanjaya Amunugama half way while Ronny Ibrahim guided them with wins in the plate segment. He too left them due to Kingswood too playing in the same tournament where he was the rugby consultant. St. Peter’s scored their tries through Dilshan Madushanka (2), Sunera Fernando, Shehan Liyanapathirana, Rukshan Madushanka, and Kenneth Wimaladasa.

Shehan Liyanapapathirana put over three conversions and a penalty. While for the losers, tries were scored by Zuhail Wazeem and Niranga Ranaweera with Chamod Wanasinghe putting over one conversion. (Referee Dinka Peiris)

Wesley College edged out Isipathana College 22-15 in a thriller at the Sugathadasa Stadium to book their semifinals berth against St. Peter’s on 24 June.

For Wesley, Kavindu Perera scored two magnificent tries while Mohandas Paranithran scored the winning try with Mursheed Doray converting one try and putting over a penalty as well. For Isipathana, Chamod Sandaruwan and Manula Ratnayake scored the tries. Skipper Manilka Ruberu put over a conversion plus a penalty.

Kingswood College, with a dominant performance, progressed to the semifinals of the Milo President Trophy 2018 when they beat Trinity College 24-15 up in the hills at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium.

At the short breather it was Kingswood that led 14-8. Trinity scored their tries through Rashen Bandaranayake and Mahdi Abdullah with Sakalasooriya putting over a penalty and Minidu Jaysundera putting over the try conversion while for the Randles Hill lads Rajanayake, Asiri Seneviratne, Dhanjaya Nuwan, and Sachith Seneviratne scored the tries. Sampath converted two of them. (Referee P. Weeranga) In the Singer League encounter too, Kingswood ended on the winning side 23-21. Kingswood, who ended the League in fifth position, will move into the semifinals after a lapse of 12 years. They will meet the Joes in the first semifinal on 23 June.