Isipathana beat Royal last year and went on to win the school’s rugby league in 2022. Royal had won it on the 3 previous occasions when it was contested. The 2 schools have been in the Top 3 of the school’s league over the past several years. This year Royal was out of contention for the title but Pathana was unbeaten and looking to repeat their 2022 success. The Social Media hype leading up to this 2nd round clash would have you believe that Royal had no hope of toppling the Green Machine.
Pathana came into the game with an injury cloud over their star outside center. Shaahid Zumri was nursing a heavily strapped left hand, wearing the 23 jersey and hoping to come on only in an emergency. After the intense Bradby 2nd leg, Coach Luka had similar concerns. Loose head Kavinash, who had started every game this season, was on the bench and Abdul Rahman (who had last played in Blue and Gold almost a month ago) was starting. He had made 2 other changes to the starting lineup; Ayyash was at blind side and Nabil was on the right wing.
Pathana makes a gloomy start to the game when full-back Kalindu drops the ball in the 30th second and then concede a penalty in the 90th. 1st choice kicker Nabil is asked to take the shot at goal. His indifferent form this season continues when he sends it past the left upright.
Royal continues its assault in Pathana territory forcing more lapses from their opponents. Pathana concede 4 further penalties and a free kick in the next 6.5 minutes. During this onslaught an Abdul Rahman carry-up has bulldozed the Pathana number 8 Jayaweera and Duljaya has twice steamrolled his opposite number; Botheju. The burly Pathana inside center is dazed but able to continue and Jayaweera is put through an obligatory R&R clearance test, before continuing. Royal is winning the physical battle in the early stages, but their lineout has been disrupted.
Totally against the run of play, Pathana’s right wing Rinesh Silva makes a menacing 50m run avoiding 5 tacklers. It is their first foray into Royal territory and is only halted by a valiant cover tackle by Philio. When Royal gives away its 1st penalty in the 10th minute, Silva boots them into a 3-0 lead.
In the next few phases Duljaya and Randul continue to carry up the ball strongly forcing the Pathana backs to make more energy sapping tackles. When the lesser endowed Yovindu attempts a similar move, he is gang tackled and jackled. Fly-half Kanishka kicks long but Amika safely retrieves the ball and gives Thivain an opportunity to take play back into the Pathana half. His kick is not strong and allows Pathana a 3rd incursion into Royal territory. They are halted by a Duljaya cover tackle, Thineth counter-ruck, Randul jackle and lose valuable possession. Kalindu’s forward pass soon after does not help.
The 1st quarter ends with a forgettable kick from Skipper Randul which goes dead-in-goal. Apart from the 2 turnovers of possession, Royal has been well disciplined thus far, conceding just 1 penalty and 1 knock-on.
Pathana skipper Kanishka is keen to get his backs in motion when he feeds Kalindu with an inside ball. He hasn’t counted on Royal’s fast acting defensive structure as Thivain smashes the diminutive full-back. That setback is compounded when Kanishka kicks the ball directly into touch.
Royal finally has a clean lineout and engineers a rolling maul. But they can’t get maximum advantage out of it as Pathana halts its 2nd forward motion. Despite Referee Yatawara’s warnings, Savistha is unable to extricate the ball in time and possession is turned over.
Kansihka tries another backline move, giving an inside pass to Botheju who then pairs up with Kalindu. But Duljaya has read the move well and thumps Kalindu into a knock-on.
In the 22nd minute, Duljaya makes another run up A1. In his frustration to keep the attack from progressing, his opposite number Botheju illegally lifts the marauding Royal center into the air. The dangerous play penalty gives Nabil a shot from 40m out. He doesn’t disappoint and takes Royal to an even 3-3 scoreline.
Kavinash comes on in the 25th minute. His able replacement: Abdul Rahman had made a half dozen highly effective carries upto that point. Kavinash is immediately into the thick of things bashing his way through the Pathana forwards.
Two further penalties by Pathana permits Royal to take the lead in the match via Nabil’s boot in the 28th minute. At 6-3, it’s the 1st time Royal are leading Pathana in the match and more importantly it’s the 1st time that Pathana have been chasing a scoreboard this season.
They respond with a line break by Kalindu that takes him into Royal’s red zone. The threatening move breaks down when his pass to Silva is behind the receiver and Amika gleefully picks up the loose ball and carries 2 defenders on his back whilst making an attractive run to within 30m away from the Pathana try line. Royal has dodged a bullet as Pathana’s famed back line has failed again.
The 8th penalty that Pathana concedes in the 1st half is for offside again and Yatawara decides to bring out the 1st Yellow Card of the game against Jayaweera. Royal has 3 minutes remaining in the 1st half and 7 at the beginning of the 2nd to make hay.
Royal’s 5th lineout produces its 2nd effective rolling maul. This time too Pathana are able to prevent it from going a sizable distance but Savistha is able to get the ball out to the backs in line with the ‘use it’ call. They gain another lineout through a further Pathana penalty. This one is just 6m out from the Pathana try line. Buwa takes a clean catch and a maul is about to form when Yatawara penalizes Diga for leaving the lineout early. Section 17 of World Rugby Law 18 on ‘Touch, quick throw and lineout’ states that a Free kick is the sanction. Royal has missed a golden opportunity to strike at the 14 player Pathana team.
The 1st half has seen Pathana concede 9 penalties and a free kick against Royal’s total of 3. They have also lost or turned over possession 5 times in the half and are lucky to only be 6-3 down.
Royal don’t start the 2nd half well as Yovindu is over eager at the breakdown and takes out the scrum half; Costha. But Pathana’s 1st lineout of the game is poor as the thrown-in is crooked.
In the 38th minute Yatawara calls Botheju offside and allows 5 phases of Royal possession to continue. 45 seconds later they knock the ball on and Yatawara says that advantage was over. No gain in territory was visible.
Another inside pass to Botheju from a Pathana scrum has signs of a successful attack but this time outside center Chamidu Dilshan’s pass goes behind Kalindu. Duljaya puts in another strong hit on Kalindu and forces him into a knock-on. A few minutes later Kalindu is substituted and Zumri comes on. He has 30 minutes to make a difference.
Royal has knocked on and Pathana have a scrum, but the set piece possession is of poor quality as the ball shoots out of the back. Diga and Buwa both put in strong tackles on the disrupted Pathana backline and Yovindu comes up with the 2nd Jackle of the game for Royal. Its quality possession just inside the Pathana 22m. Randul’s charge is followed by Thineth who goes all the way to the 5m line. When the ball is quickly recycled, Thivain charges almost 15m to score Royal’s 1st try. Along the way he has belted Zumri and exposed his defensive frailties. Nabil converts from under the black dot and Royal has a 10-point cushion at 13-3. The goal has come just inside the 10-minute Yellow card that Jayaweera copped.
A few minutes later Duljaya takes another direct uncompromising run, shrugging off the weak attempt of a tackle by Silva. Zumri finally gets some ball in hand and attempts to put his dancing feet to use. He is hit hard by Buwa and hurriedly passes to open air where Philio swoops on the loose ball. Thineth then makes a trademark run which sends the Pathana 2nd rower Hettiarachchi floundering backwards.
In the 45th minute Randul is pinged for not releasing the ball in a tackle and Silva is preparing to kick to touch when Kanishka screams ‘scrum’. They are still in their half of the ground. Are they worried about Royal’s twin towers in the lineout or do they want to showcase their attacking potential from the set piece?
Duljaya hits Dilshan hard while in possession and when Kanishka tries to run, he is cut down by the excellent Buwa. Diga then puts in a strong tackle on the Pathana loose head Fernando and Thineth swoops in to claim Royal’s 3rd jackle of the game. Its copybook stuff. Pathana has not gained any ground from the Royal penalty. Nabil makes the kick and Royal now have a 13-point advantage at 16-3 in the 48th minute. Silva has taken a pounding and is given medical assistance before continuing.
The next few minutes are not Royal’s best as they cough up a knock-on, a penalty, and a free kick. From the ensuing scrum Kanishka loops around and passes to Randimal. Philio has read the play and cuts him short. The loose ball is booted by Pathana open side Gamage and it sits up beautifully for him to gather and fall over the try line. But Savistha gets in the way. He uses his raised knee to kick the ball dead and deny Gamage. Yatawara is just behind the play and consults his AR; Anura Shantha, who is convinced that Savistha has palmed the ball dead. Despite the 16-year old’s protests, Yatawara believes his AR and awards a penalty to Pathana.
Kansihka once again calls for a scrum. This time it’s just 5m out. Silva comes in between his centers at speed and scores Pathana’s 1st try from 1st phase ball. Botheju has taken Thivain out of play and Duljaya has tripped over. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Pathana have closed the gap to just 6 points at 16-10.
From the restart Philio pressurizes blindside Ahamad into a poor pass forcing Kanishka to kick. Amika collects the ball, runs around Silva and then shoves Zumri out of play. He has gained a valuable 30m in the process. Royal’s forwards take over as Afeef, Randul, Thineth and Buwa make good meters with possession, forcing another penalty out of Pathana. Nabil sends the 25m effort through the posts and Royal stretch the lead to 9 points at 19-10 in the 57th minute.
Pathana have possession over the next few minutes. Their talismanic leader is trying to spark a comeback, but Royal’s defence is rock solid. Kanishka is first cut down by Philio and then Nabil thumps him in a dominant tackle. Philio then follows that up with a cracker on Silva, forcing another forward pass. Not to be outdone Duljaya also pulls off a ripper tackle on Kalindu, forcing another handling error which Amika picks up and sends Philio off on a strong run to the try line. He has Diga and Duljaya on his inside when he is mowed down and loses possession.
In the 62nd minute Pathana’s scrum ball is kick-passed by Kanishka from his own goal line. Its adventurous and disastrous. It does not find its intended target as Nabil collects the wayward kick. Royal has quality possession in the Pathana red zone and Afeef leads the charge. Pathana concede their 12th penalty of the game when Jayaweera does not roll away from the tackle allowing Nabil to enjoy his 6th consecutive kick and take Royal to a 12 point lead at 22-10.
Royal concede 2 more penalties under Pathana’s continuous pressure. The 2nd one is for Savistha not being 10m away from the quick tap. He is Yellow carded and Royal would have to play the last 6 minutes with 14 players. Once again Pathana opt for a scrum rather than take a kick to touch, but Silva is monstered by Amika and knocks-on.
Simak comes on to take over scrum half duties and Philio hobbles off. The outstanding center who has given another defensive masterclass, had previously taken a hit to his already compromised legs.
Pathana gives away another penalty and follow it up with a knock-on. Royal can’t take advantage as Randul makes the 2nd poor kick of the match sending the ball into Pathana hands. Zumri gets possession around 52m out. He chips the ball and chases it. His attempt to collect the bouncing ball just before the try line is unsuccessful and he rues the missed opportunity. Yatawara checks with his AR; Alexander, who accuses Charu of having tugged at Zumri’s jersey and a penalty try for the 2nd successive week is awarded against Royal.
Pathana has closed the gap to 5 points and has 3 minutes remaining to pull of a come-from-behind victory.
Silva collects the restart and passes it to Zumri. He tries to be an Instagram hero by making an extravagant back-of-the-hand pass to Randimal. It goes badly wrong, and Pathana cough up their 6th knock-on. Their 14th and final penalty of the game gives Nabil his 8th shot at goal. He misses and Pathana have the last minute to change the impending loss.
Their restart kick is corralled by the excellent Royal forwards and 5 phases later Thivain kicks the ball out in victory for the 2nd successive week.
Royal has had zero lineouts in the 2nd half but the Milroy Fernando trophy has returned to Reid Avenue and Pathana’s unbeaten season has been jolted. Their title aspirations have also been speed-checked. Coach Luka’s master plan in attack and especially structured defence has come up trumps.
