Kingswood by a point in the nick of time

Kingswood wrestled back the L. E. Blaze Trophy in thrilling fashion by resisting a fierce, late assault by a determined Wesley side to scrape through to a 40 points ( 5 tries, 3 conversions, 3 penalties) to 39 (5 tries, 4 conversions, 2 penalties) win at Bogambara, yesterday.

In doing so, the Kandy team showed that it was a quirk of fate that they found themselves in a lower division. They showed in no uncertain terms that they could compete with the best.

Kingswood’s back division was thrilling to watch as they made some brilliant runs to spread-eagle the Wesley defence. Fly half Lahiru Ranaweera was outstanding and the way he opened up space in front of him for the others to run through, saw the Wesley defence at sixes and sevens.

Flanker S. Rajanayake benefitted no end and he was able to latch on and dart through the defence on two occasions to go over.

Skipper Shannon Jansen showed his talent late in the game by using his speed to go through the defence on two occasions and touchdown. Centre Sachintha Seneviratne was the other try scorer for the winners.

Fly half Ranaweera made a big contribution towards the victory by putting over three tries and a similar number of penalties.

Wesley was slow off the blocks and took some time to get into the game. Their first half performance was a bit lack luster. It was no surprise that Kingswood were ahead 18-11 at lemons.

This half was dominated for most part of the game by Kingswood’s speedy back division.

The two brothers excelled in adversity. Avantha tried his utmost to break through. Though he failed at times, that didn’t stop him from putting up a stout defence. Scrum half Avishka had his hands full – now converting, now kicking up and unders from the base of the scrum. He converted four tries and two penalties.

Skipper Danister Gunatilleke made one superb break to cut through the defence, but the move broke down short of the line.

With time kicking by, and a deficit to be made up, Wesley threw themselves into the fray with zest and desperation. That they touched down on four occasions in the second half goes to show that they were with a chance of pulling this one off had they felt the desperation a little earlier.

Number eight Sabar, flanker Aponso, S. D. Perera and Wettasinghe scored in the second half. Avishka did the honours most times. Danister Gunatilleke touched down for Wesley’s solitary first half try.

In hindsight, Wesley have kept the ball away from Kingswood’s rampaging back division and played with the forwards more. Wesley also indulged in a few aimless, deep kicks. Full back Asiri Seneviratne returned those with interest.

Referee – Aruna Shantha