Defending champions Isipathana did not have things easy beside Wesley in their quarter-final encounter of the Dialog Schools Knockout Rugby tournament played at the Royal Sports Complex ground in Reid Avenue, as they were made to fight hard to record a victory by 24 points to 10.
The two sides communal honours in the first half, sharing honours at the breather with ten points each, while Isipathana added 14 points to nothing by Wesley in the second half as they amassed their points from two goals and two tries to two tries recorded by Wesley.
Though, Wesley gave the Pathanas some anxious moments in the first half as they controlled proceedings in the early stages of this session. Wesley drew first blood in the eighth minute through an unconverted try scored by wing three Praththana Rodrigo.
It took another 17 minutes for the next scoring to be done, with Wesley successive with skipper and No 8 Sandul Gammanpila going over for an unconverted try. Isipathana, putting in more effort, managed to get past the Wesley defence on two occasions, which were both by winger Isuru Udayanga in the 28th and 37th minutes, and with the conversions being kicked amiss, the sides changed with ten points each.
The second half was predictable to be a closely contested affair, but it was the Pathanas who prospered by scoring two tries, which were both by No Shaahid Zumiri in the seventh and 13th minutes, while flyhalf Avishka Hiran put over one conversion, and that stood to be the only scoring to be done in this session that ended in a close 24-10 win for defending champions Isipathana, which ensured them the semi-final slot.
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