St.Peter’s College Bambalapitiya star player and their captain cum play maker - fly half Kenneth Wimaladasa had an exceptional game both in attack and defence as well as his spectacular leadership where he led from the front scoring 13 points in their semi-final win over Wesley College yesterday at the Sugathadasa Stadium to set up a final clash against traditional rivals St Joseph’s College next weekend in the Milo ‘A’ Division inter-schools President’s trophy knockout rugby tournament.
|Wimaladasa’s individual brilliance made him the unsung hero of their 23 points (2 tries, 2 conversions, 3 penalties) to 13 (1 try, 1 conversion, 2 penalties) victory over Wesley. At half time the Peterites led 10-7.
St. Peter’s forwards fought like terriers in the entire match combining effectively with their three quarters giving no room for their opponent - winning all the good ball and line outs to finally come out on top.
Peterites scored first in the third minute of the game with a 35-metre penalty slotted in by skipper Kenneth Wimaladasa and went into a 3-nil lead.
In the ninth minute of play Wesley grabbed the lead when full back Murshid Subair out foxed and went through the Peterite defence to score a try. He made the conversion himself for Wesley to lead 7-3.
St. Peters regained the lead in the 19th minute and went ahead 10-7 when winger Shenal Silva collected the ball from a sweeping three quarter move and dived over to score a try near the left corner flag, Wimaladasa fired across a spectacular touch line conversion.
At lemons the score stood at 10-7 in favour of St.Peter’s.
After the turn around with pressure mounting on the Wesleyites, the Peterites added more pressure by scoring in the 40th minute when prop forward Abdulla Faiz barged through for a try off a ruck. Wimaladasa made the conversion to increase the score to 17-7
In the 50th minute of play Wesley cut down the lead to 17-10 when fly half Tharindhu Walpitage put over a simple 25 metre penalty.
Peter’s increased their lead to 20-10 with a superb 35 metre penalty slotted in by Wimaladasa in the 55th minute.
Within two minutes Walpitage put over another simple 20 metre penalty to close the margin to 20-13.
The Peterites who had an outstanding game sealed the match in the dying stages when captain Wimaladasa who had a fine game with a 100% record with his boot slotted in the penalty to make the score 23-13.
It was a fantastic win for St. Peters College who reached the knockout final after a lapse of eight years under veteran head coach Sanath Martis who was also their coach when they achieved that feat in 2010.
Referee: Aaqil Jamaldeen.
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