(UTV|COLOMBO) – St. Peter’s trounced Kingswood College, Kandy by 53 points (5 goals, 3tries, 1 penalty) to 12 points (1 goal, 1 try) in a Milo President’s Trophy inter-school knockout rugby tournament quarter-final match at Royal Sports Complex yesterday. At half-time the winners led 25-12.
The Peterites will meet Isipathana in the second semifinal on July 13. Isipathana overcame St. Joseph’s 19-17 in the quarter-final on Saturday.
Peterite fly half Thenuka Nanayakkara scored the bulk of the points for the defending champions contributing 21 points including two tries within the space of three minutes in the second half. He also slotted home a penalty and goaled four tries.
Lock forward Nizran Nilar powered himself over the line for the first of his three tries to open the account for St. Peter’s.
Shenol Silva scored under the posts and Sathmina Perera sliced through the Kingwood defence for their third try for St. Peter’s to lead 17-0 after ten minutes.
Plate champions Kingswood hit back in the 26th minute when after a quick tap Dinal Ekanayake scored in the corner with Hirusha Sampath making a superb touchline conversion.
Peterite skipper Bilal Hilmy crashed over for their fourth try while Kingswood replied when Dinal Ekanayake scored off an overlap.
Nanayakara made no mistake with a penalty as St. Peter’s went into the break with a 25-12 cushion.
Nilar scored his second try in the 45th minute while Nanayakkara struck twice in quick succession to extend their lead to 46-12 after 55 minutes of play.
Nilar completed the rout with a hat-trick of tries, five minutes before the end with Sathmina Perera adding the extra points for their final tally. (DN)
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