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| Sunday, 21 August 2005 |
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Royal beaten by Ananda by Srian Obeyesekere Make believe! Yes, Ananda did. It was not to be... go Royal go at the blue, gold and blue jersied team's home grounds at Reid Avenue yesterday. Indeed, Ananda took the buzz off Royal. The 12 points (1 goal, 1 try) to 10 (2 tries) demolition once again underwrote the holes in the royalty glamour the once kings of schools' rugby basked in. Here they were licking the dirt in their home territory as zoom Royal was kicked out of the Division 'A' into the 'B' fold from next year with this defeat. If No. 14 Harshana Perera, the winger underscored what a gutsy player he was with a beauty of a spellbounding 60 metre try, his was a performance that characterised the Anandian grit by the rag doll state the Maradana school sweated themselves to in a heart and soul display that brought down the Royalists. Perera came into his own almost on the stroke of half time in the 29th minute of the first half in the wake of some previous muffed up scintilating solos. This time there was no stopping this lean and lanky winger who collected the ball off a forwards rush and sprinted to touch down on the Royal left corner. No. 3 Yohan Perera made no mistake with the conversion. At half time Ananda led 7-nil. Royal did comeback soon after the turn around when No. 8 Chathuranga Hettiarachchi collected off a forwards rush to touch down, but a rather difficult conversion did not find its mark as Royal yet trailed 5-7. It was the culmination at last of striking the scoreboard after a series of failed moves which could not be perfected by a jagged looking forward row. But Ananda bounced back after 15 minutes of frantic rugby by both sides found fruition for the maroon, gold and maroon lads when No. 15 Udara Suriyapperuma intercepted a pass and dummied his way to touch down in the 21st minute. Once again Yohan Perera, the place kicker had it bulls eye into the goal mouth. Ananda led 12-5. Royal's last ditch effort did yield a try in the 27th minute when No. 15 Naren Dasan collected off a three quarter move to touch down, but once again the conversion went awry and with it Royal's golden chance of coming even. If yesterday was doomsday for Royal as far as status and the future standings in the Singer Schools' Tournament is concerned, for the gutsy Anandians the day marked another chapter in their continued emergence as a force to be reckoned with now in rugby after cricket. But if the Ananda players did their 'alma mater' proud, their supporters who were there in their numbers did the opposite as they lived up to their bad reputation of hooting the referee Amadoru whenever the whistle went against them. |
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