By Brian Thomas Reporting for www.srilankasport.com
As tears subside in the Trinity camp and abundance of Joy and celebrations in the Isipathana tent, the actual winner was the game of Rugby.
Isipathana must be given credit despite hampered with injuries to three of their key players, including their all-important kicker they get over the line after being led 9 points to 7 up until the 70th minute.
Isipathana, no doubt, was tested , however, their hard working forwards with Zumri , Rajapaksa, Kodithuwaku, and skipper Dodangwala put in the hard yards amongst themselves to secure the first try in the 9th minute of the first half close to the upright off a ruck for Kodithuwaku to barge over the white wash for a converted try as the green machine went 7 points to nil drawing first blood.
Trinity gained lots of territorial advantage, but butter fingured two scoring opportunities in the first half.
It was a slightly wet ball, but Trinity was guilty of far too many infringements by conceeding 8 penalties in the first half. They even lost a loose head in the scrum and lacked the killer instinct in the line outs because they had to compete against the best lineout specialist amongst all schools from the opposition.
Speaking to former CR and FC captain Christopher Jordashe, incidently my rugby mentor and editor he was of the view that Trinity was lucky not to conceed more points because Isipathana were without their main kicker at goal due substitute kicker
missed 4 kicks within easy range and opted another to get touch on two other penalty chances.
Jordashe stated far too many mistakes by Trinity, including ball handling that cost them their downfall , however, the individual brilliance of Shan Altaf helped Trinity to reduce the deficite when he converted
2 penalties to be led 7 points to 6 at Lemons.
Trinity was exquisite in defence as envisaged. Isipathana, with better ball handling skills, formations in the rucks , and breakdowns , could not break the defence barrier of Trinity as their defense stood.
Trinity came with better intent in the second half but lacked the all-important finishing touches yet again due to excessive infringments.
Shan Altaf created his magic to score , but the try was referred to the TMO . On the insistence of the AR , his effort was disallowed due to a yet another infringement in a ruck, which was spotted by the AR and TMO..
Isipathana attacked the Trinity line with so many phases, but the Trinity wall of defence was far beyond compare. This proved gospel when Isipathana took advantage of Trinity’s in decipline .
They decided to avoid taking short taps or kicking to touch and form the rolling maul to score, knowing that going through the Lions den was next to impossible.
With the score on 7 points to 6 in the 57th minute, who will win the pendulum swung at Notts.
Then came the magical boots of Shan Altaf, who missed two penalty kicks in the second half , but executed an out of the box drop kick to get Trinity on the leader board by 9 points to 7.
The Trinity College anthem has a line that states , when the last charge goes thundering towards the twilight goal , Isipathana took a cue from that , riplys believe it or not with 30 seconds to go Isipathana through a brilliant cut out from Madushanka to Kodithuwaku he beat the Trinity defence by the narrowest of margins to get over the white wash scoring by the bell , and bang goes the final trumpet after the endorsement by the TMO , to Isipathana to be crowned as the 2025 Dialog Schools President trophy champions for the 15th time and they retained the coverted trophy to take the silverware.
They won from the jaws of defeat , whilst lots of parties and get-together chit-chat takes place by the Isipathana fans , Trinity will hold their heads high for exibiting quality Rugger honestly it was a slip between the cup and the lip.
In the end it was clear that rugby was the winner..
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