Science College hosted S.Thomas’ College in a week 03 clash of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024 yesterday (30th of June) at the Air Force Rugby Grounds in Ratmalana. After a closely contested tussle, Thomians managed to walk out with the win 30-26.

Merckyle Karunaratne scored the opening try as Thomians made use of the penalty they received 5m away from the try line and opted for the scrum. Karunaratne managed to take the ball out and outpower the last line of defence from the blindside. Udan Bulathsinghalage missed the first conversion of the day (SC 00 – 05 STC)

Just few minutes later Science College managed to hit back when Udan Bulathsinghalage knocked the ball forward inside their own 22m and Science from the scrum that followed worked the ball to the left and Oshadha perera spotted the gap to perfection and went over and made sure to convert the try as well (SC 07 – 05 STC)

The 2nd try for the Thomians came when they received a Penalty just 5m away from the whitewash and they used the blindside again as Seneshka Liyanagunawardene reached out for the try. The conversion went astray once again (SC 07 – 10 STC)

Just before half-time the visitors received a tackler not releasing advantage and they went for the Penalty as Udan Bulathsinghalage finally got the kick right adding the 3 points (SC 07 – 13 STC)

Science College began the 2nd half with a bang as a tremendous rolling maul caught Thominas off guard and it took them inside the opposition 22m territory. From a penalty that followed they worked the ball from left to right as Perera scored the try. With a good conversion he made sure Science got the lead early in the 2nd half (SC 14 – 13 STC)

But the lead was unfortunately short lived for the hosts. A tackler not rolling away advantage to Thomas and Udan with a good territory gaining kick took them inside the opposition 22m territory and the Thomian forwards this time finished the job as Kaveesha Lenagala went over. But the conversion once again went away from the right post (SC 14 – 18 STC)

Few minutes later after taking back the lead, S.Thomas managed to increase the buffer as another rolling maul took Thora close and they worked the line from left to right as Liyanagunawardene scored his 2nd try. Experienced campaigner Yehan Bulathsinghalage took over the kicking duties and added the 2 points (SC 14 – 25 STC)

Trailing by 11 points it was quite clear Science College were failing to get their act right as they conceded another try after Perera’s clearance kick was charged down by Tieshya Aluwihare and Perera was unable to make the recovery as Aluwihare kept kicking the ball and Perera missed the opportunity to kick the ball out as well giving Aluwihare ample time to touchdown for the try (SC 14 – 30 STC)

With time running out Science College with some new found energy started making inroads to the Thomian territory. They also received a penalty just a few metres short of the try line and they took the tap as RavinduNishantha the big forward went over. Lakshan Silva converted the try for the home team (SC 21 – 30 STC)

With just a few minutes to go the visitors all of a sudden started to give away penalty after penalty for Science and the hosts who took advantage of the situation found another try through  Ravindu who produced an overpowering run against the Thomian defenders. This time the conversion missed but Science College were well in the game to produce a shock turnaround in the dying minutes (SC 26 – 30 STC)

In the last move of the game a rejuvenated Science College who scored back to back tries inside 10 minutes came very close to the whitewash and almost thought they managed to register that match winning try. But unfortunately the try was not awarded and the referee blew the final whistle as S. Thomas’ College had a narrow escape. The home team will be kicking themselves for not using all their speed without making mistakes while the Thomians will be extremely happy on how their forwards contributed.

Seneshka Liyanagunawardene was instrumental for the Thomians to register this win scoring two tries and he was phenomenal as a defender for the team as well. Due to his immense contribution he walked out with the NDB Bank Player of the Match award.