S. Thomas’ College celebrated a 24-17 victory over St Anthony’s College in their second match of the Schools Dialog ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament at Mount Lavinia yesterday after leading 14-7 at half time.
The Thomians scored three goals and added a penalty while St Anthony’s managed one goal and two tries in their hard-fought effort. The match began in heavy rain with S Thomas’ quickly taking a 14-0 lead within the first 12 minutes.
Heran Karunaratne and Seneshka Liyanagunawardana scored tries for the home team in the early stages and both were converted by Yehan Bulathsinhalage.
St Anthony’s responded with a try from Mohomed Faraz and a successful conversion by Omitha Dissanayake, narrowing the gap to 7-14 by halftime.
After the break, St Anthony’s closed in further with another try, bringing the score to 12-14, before S Thomas’ extended their lead with a penalty kick by Yehan Bulathsinhalage, making it 17-12.
Seneshka Liyanagunawardana secured another try for S Thomas’ in the 61st minute that was converted successfully to lead 24-12.
The Antonians fought back with a late try from Akesh Sampath in the 66th minute, reducing the deficit to 17-24.
The match was officiated by Raveen Alexander.
