It was nearby yet so far for Trinity as defending champions Isipathana dashed their hopes of settling the Dialog Schools Knockout Rugby title with a last-minute try scored in the last minute of the second session to come out victorious by 12 points to 9 in the final played at the Royal Sports Complex ground yesterday.
The hero of the Pathana side was centre Yuvindu Kodituwakku, who twisted the game to his advantage in a match that saw missed scoring opportunities by both sides.
Though, there was some doubt whether the winning try was a knock-on, but it was confirmed that it was clean.
The tension and pressure for the sides could be gauged by the score throughout the short whistle, with Isipathana holding on to a solitary point lead, 7-6, and ending the game with a goal and a try, against the two penalties and a drop goal scored by Trinity.
Hats off to both sides for giving their supporters a worthy final which kept them on their toes, and on the negative side, there was rough play with three players being sin-binned, two from Trinity and one from Isipathana.
It was, as stated, a match of missing scoring opportunities, with Trinity dominating proceedings in the later stages of the first session after Isipathana made the first scoring in the 12th minute with centre Adithya Madushan going over for a try and fullback Avishka Hiran adding the extra points.
In between, Trinity get ahead in reducing the deficit with two penalties booted over by the reliable kicker and full back Shan Althaf in the 14th and 24th minutes, but seven minutes later, he kicked astray a kickable penalty, which denied Trinity to surge ahead, and with no further scoring done, Isipathana managed to hold on to a solitary point lead at the breather. The resumption saw the two sides again throwing away scoring opportunities, with Isipathana missing out on two penalties that were offered, which were kicked astray.
This was trailed by Trinity being unfortunate, as a try scored by Althaf, who sprinted over 70 metres, was disallowed, which was very unfortunate, and his effort proved to be in vain. Reliable kicker Althaf turned out to be off colour as he again fluffed an easy penalty offered but made amends by booting over a drop goal which saw Trinity go into the lead 9-7.
The pressure seemed too much for both sides as they fluffed two kickable penalties before Isipathana in a do-or-die effort, succeeding thanks to centre Kodituwakku’s heroics for them to retain the knockout title for yet another year. The win was Isipathana’s 15th knockout title from the 29 finals that they have qualified for.
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