Petes have last hurrah -- beat Trinity to finish fifth overall

Centre Stephan Sivaraj had a memorable day helping St. Peter's College sign off the Singer Schools Under-20 Rugby League Championship, with an inspiring 29-22 win against Trinity College at Pallekele yesterday.

In an error-filled game, played for the fifth position of the competition and for the Deshamanya Dennis Perera Trophy and both teams scored three tries each.

But the Peterites took the upper hand after Sivaraj's heroics gave them the edge making conversions the vital point of the game. His contribution of 14 points off his kicks beat his counterpart Lashan Wijesuriya, who added seven points off his boot. St. Peter's scored from three tries, a conversion and four penalties while Trinity scored off three tries, two conversions and a penalty. At halftime Trinity led 15-13.

The Peterites made crucial kicks off Sivaraj, helping them take the much needed lead when they badly needed. He took three back-to-back kicks in the second half, which became the deciding factor of the game.

Both sides looked fired up prior to the battle for the fifth position of the Singer Schools Rugby League Championship but hosts Trinity were far less impressive than the Peterites, notably inside the opponent's 22. The Peterites took it to their own advantage as scrumhalf Avishka Heenpella made a breakthrough and almost scored not for the superb pursuit and defence by two Trinitians, who not only pre- vented a possible spectacular try but also kicked the ball back to off the danger zone.

Within a blink of a time, fullback Diyath Fernando made a similar breakthrough and he almost touched down on the right flank before being chased and put down rather dangerously by a couple of Trinitians. An obvious high tackle awarded St. Peter's a penalty try when the game was just five minutes old, but centre Stephan Sivaraj was prevented from putting over an easy conversion by the watchful Trinitians as the visitors took the lead 5-0.

Five minutes on Trinity were on the attack but were cannily pushed back by the Peterite, who took the ball towards the host's 22. But a vital break and a neat offload to the hands of Trinity centre Naweed Rajaratnam was the end of their struggle. He aggressively sped off, covering over 60 metres to touch down on the left flank. Flyhalf Lashan Wijesuriya could not kick the ball over the posts but they managed to level the score 5-5.

The Peterites managed to take the lead for the second time 8-5, after they successfully kicked a 35-metre penalty, received after Trinity obstructed play, in the 13th minute. With Trinity playing hard to gain the advantage, they decide to take the kick instead of attempting a try in the 21st minute. Wijesuriya successfully put through to equalise 8-8.

Four minutes later St. Peter's strike back to take the lead 13-8, off an unconverted try and manages to hold on for ten minutes until they were flummoxed by a rightly taken break off a scrum by Trinity scrumhalf Anuka Boyagoda, who squeezed through passing couple of defenders to score under-the-post. With Wijesuriya's successful kick Trinity took the lead 15-13 for the first and only time on the game and went on to sit pretty at halftime with a two-point advantage.

After the turnaround Sivaraj's three consecutive penalty kicks in the 45th, 56th and 65th minutes helped to put St. Peter's ahead from 13-15 to 22-15. Both teams had to play with 14 players almost during a sim- ilar phase, after both skippers Rahul Karunathilleke of Trinity and Sandesh Jayawickrema of St. Peter's were sin-binned.

Trinity had their moments of making a possible comeback but were thwarted each time by the Peterites as one such attempt hit back the hosts. Trinity were on the attack, on the brink of the tryline in the 73rd minute, but they lost possession during an offload. St. Peter's centre Thikshana Dasanayake received the ball off a perfect linework and ran almost 60 metres to touch down. Sivaraj converted to put the visitors further ahead 29-15. A last minute try by Trinity scrumhalf Boyagoda and a failed conversion ended the game 29-22 in favour of the visitors.

Referee: Dinka Peiris