Trinity College advanced to the semi-finals of the President’s Trophy Knock-Out Rugby Tournament after a hard fought 24 points (three goals, one penalty) to 15 (one goal, one try, one penalty) win over S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia in their quarter-final clash played at Havelock Park yesterday.
The Kandy lads led 17-10 at half time and withstood a spirited late fight back from the Thomians to seal a deserved victory.
The Thomians struck first in the sixth minute when prop Eyan Pereira powered over at the right corner flag, following a sequence of errors from Trinity. Winger Mayanka Dias added the conversion to give the Mount Lavinia school an early 7-0 lead.
But Trinity replied through number eight Shrayan Satheeshkumar, who dived over in the left corner after sustained pressure. Full back Shan Althaf held his nerve with a difficult conversion to level the scores at 7-all by the 15th minute.
Althaf then added a 25-metre penalty to edge Trinity ahead, 10-7 in the 27th minute, before Dias returned the favour with a superb 25-metre penalty to level the game at 10-all in the 33rd minute.
At the stroke of half time, the Thomians suffered a blow when Vice-Captain Avishka Hiran was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle.
Trinity capitalised almost immediately, with hooker Nisith Kumarasinghe crashing over from a driving maul. Althaf’s accurate conversion stretched the lead to 17-10 at the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Trinity extended their advantage. Full back Althaf, who had a brilliant outing with the boot and ball in hand, scored under the posts and converted his own try to give Trinity a comfortable 24-10 cushion.
The Thomians, however, were not done. Number eight McKyle Karunaratne powered his way over in the 60th minute after a series of forward drives, narrowing the gap to 15-24.
Trinity faced a nervous final quarter after being reduced to 13 men following yellow cards to two players, including Tervin Udukumbura in the 61st minute.
The Thomians came agonisingly close to scoring again when Jason Gnanadass touched down near the posts but after consulting the touch judges, referee Gihan Yatawara ruled it out for a knock-on.
Despite late territorial dominance by the Thomians, Trinity’s defence held firm to claim a vital win and book a semi-final showdown against Zahira College.
