Brilliant Wesley down Trinity

Wesley laid their hands on the President’s Trophy after two earlier attempts had ended in failure, with a brilliant display of running rugby as they doused Trinity’s hopes with an astonishing 34 points (3 goals, 2 tries, 1 penalty) to 21 (1 goal, 1 try 3 penalties) win at the Royal College Sports Complex on Sunday.

The winners were superbly led by skipper Rahul de Silva and to a man, they supported him admirably.

Poor handling by the Trinity defenders presented Wesley with a couple of tries and after that, there was no come-back for the Kandy lads.

Wesley scored as early as in the third minute, when a reverse pass near the line saw prolific number eight Gavin Siegerts go over for an unconverted try. This was followed by good attacking play by Tillekeratne and Pieris, who kept probing the defence.

Trinity skipper Wadood broke through, but was well held by his opposite number, who forced him to err. After Lakvin Gunasekera had made a dangerous run was brought down in the 22, Ratwatte converted a penalty to reduce the deficit.

Off a scrum twenty yards out, center Ryan Weerakoon scored when he received a good pass from fly half Ratwatte. The conversion saw Trinity take the lead 10-8. A penalty by Rahul de Silva and a drop goal by Tharindu Ratwatte saw lemons being taken with full score at 13-8, in Trinity’s favour.

Wesley made the mistate of trying to beat the defenders one on one and found themselves isolated at times.

The floodgates really opened in the second half. The hard-working Siegertsz seemed to touch down, but referee Jamaldeen was not satisfied. No matter, a second later, center Ishaq Jurampathi obliged. The skipper converted and Wesley now led 15-10. Ratwatte cut the deficit to 13-10 with a well taken penalty.

Alahakoon, in fielding a high kick let the ball pop out of his hands and Ishara Madushanka who was nearby, collected and strolled over, almost unopposed. De Silva converted and extended the lead to 22-13.