Royal College’s centre Amika Samarasinghe put in a heroic display as four tries paved the way for his side to record a convincing 41 points to 24 over D.S. Senanayake College in the quarter-final encounter of the Dialog Schools Knockout Rugby tournament played at Havelock Park yesterday.
Royal, having taken a comfortable 21-12 lead at the breather, made up their points through four goals, a try and a penalty to the two goals and two tries scored by DSS.
This was expected to be a closely contested match due to the fact that DSS, after their performance against Dharmaraja in the pre-quarter, had their supporters looking forward to a good fightback, but it was not to be, as Royal, though not playing to their potential in their match against Kingswood, saw them playing a game with much cohesion and rattled their opponents with ease.
Within the first 17 minutes, they made their presence felt as they ran circles around the DSS defence and planted three tries, with Amika going over for the first two tries in the very first minute and the 12th minute, followed by a try by No 8 Disas Pathirana five minutes later, with flyhalf Idris Farook booting over the three conversions, which saw them lead 21-0.
DSS got their act together, though under pressure, and managed to breach the Royal defence in the latter stages of this session by scoring back-to-back tries, first in the 33rd minute through prop forward Thimath Bogahawatte and two minutes later by No 8 Praveen Lakmal and centre Thathira Perera. Being able to put over only one conversion saw the short whistle being blown with Royal leading 21-12.
On resumption, Amika made a repeat of his first-half performance by planting back-to-back tries with six minutes left, the first in the second minute and then in the eighth minute, with flyhalf Idris Farook making one conversion, which saw Royal stretch their lead to 33-12.
Royal went further ahead in the 27th minute with Idris booting over a penalty that was offered, and five minutes later DSS succeeded in decreasing the lead with centre Rasindu Bandara going over for a try and Thatheera Perera making the conversion.
Royal replied with a peach of a try scored by second row Dinuka Perera, who ran over 50 metres to score an unconverted try down the right corner flag. In the dying stages, with the game in the Royals’ pocket, DSS went over for a consolation try scored by Praveen, which was his second of the match, and with the conversion being fluffed, saw the long whistle being blown with Royal coming out easy winners to book the berth to the semi-final.
Referee: Suranga Arunashantha