The Canon Thunders

Havelock Park was awash with shouts of T-H-O-R-A as the long whistle saw a gutsy S.Thomas’ convincingly beat title favourites Trinity College by 29-15 and wrest back the Canon RS De Saram Trophy after a lapse of four years, in which time Thomian rugby had reached the doldrums conceding 70 and 50 points to the Trinitians in  2011 and 12 (thanks for the correction Shehaan).

Despite the pre season preparation being better than previous years, and the Segment B performance of the Thomians being excellent, the unbeaten A division school was expected to run away with the win comfortably. What Trinity did not expect was that the old cliche of ‘who wants it more’ would hit home with such a vengeance.

Trinity skipper Halique Wadood was in the thick of it when his team opened the scoring as early as the 6th minute of play, touching down by the left corner flag as the Thomian defence struggled to reorganise itself in phase play. Thomian spirits flagged as the nervous young team looked likely to be run ragged by the pacy, powerful Trinity outside backs. Sanchana Shiek missed the conversion narrowly having taken over the kicking duties from Tarindra Ratwatte.

The early score seemed to settle the Trinitians and drop the heads of the inexperienced Thomian outfit. However, despite missing his first kick of the day, skipper Devin Jayasinghe managed to bring STC to within two points at 5-3. Clawing back that deficit seemed to lift the heads of the Thomians who settled down nicely into implementing their patterns, which in the first half seemed to be running.

Nevertheless Trinity hit back with a period of sustained pressure in the Thomian 22 and some good pick and go play saw the lock forward fall over and make the game 10 – 3, with Sheik unluckily missing the conversion off the upright. Both sides were making a hash of their restarts and Trinity allowed S. Thomas’ to hit back almost immediately.

A few attacking scrums for STC which saw their burly no.8 with uncharacteristically quick feet break blind, then open, and off the third scrum feed his three quarters whose sublime handling saw the right winger dive in untouched on the overlap. It was a beautifully worked try by a team that seemed to be gaining confidence with every passing minute.

Trinity on the other hand, seemed appalled by the resistance the Thomians were offering and seemed to think they should score off every possession. They did not show the levels of patience that should be adopted by a team as good as Trinity is on their day. As a result, they ended up dropping the ball in the tackle way too often for coaches Footie and Ibrahim to begin tearing their hair out.

Jayasinghe knocked over his second contribution and the score suddenly read 10 all with Trinity having played most of the rugby upto half time. Tarindra Ratwatte saw a lot of the ball in the first forty minutes, but Jeerasinghe at inside centre for STC had a storming defensive game stopping any forward momentum from Ratwatte or Girahagama, both of whom had patch days. Aluwihare at outside centre looked more threatening but the Thomian defence hung on grimly sometimes by as little as a fingernail.

Referee Dimitri Gunasekera was playing some good advantage and kept the game flowing. This suited both teams who, thanks to their schools’ philosophies, were eager to run the ball and play positive rugby. STC were probably more relieved to go into half time with the scores even at 10 points all.

The turnaround saw the wind at the Thomians’ back and an overcooked touchfinder from captain Jayasinghe, showed how much influence the wind will have on the proceedings. Given that they played with the wind in the first half, Trinity really needed a lead at the break. STC stormed into Trinity territory with the kick off and earned a penalty from the indisciplined Trinitians who could neither stay on their feet or keep their hands off the ball. It was a frustrating day for Trinitians on the sidelines, who saw their team give away needless penalty after needless penalty which Devin Jayasinghe potted in his distinctive style to see the Thomians steadily accumulate a 19 – 10 lead.

The defensive effort for the Thomians was led by Jeerasinghe at second five eigth and Hasaka, the deputy skipper just outside him. The pair made some excellently timed, well disciplined hits on the dangerous Trinity pair of Girahagama and Aluwihare. The run and pass game that STC had scored with in the first half, changed strategically into a kick to the corners game with the helpful tail wind. Jayasinghe who sometimes found himself the only receiver, rather than first receiver had the ball on his shoestrings orchestrating the steady attrition of the big Trinity tight five. Sheik, Goonetilleka and skipper Wadood, who formed the back trio for Trinity were constantly hassled with gigantic punts that turned them around and gave them no real opportunity for counter attack.

The return kicks also yielded no joy for the Trinitians as their line out fell to pieces especially when the Thomians started contesting every ball in the second half. Hooker Sakalasooriya was wayward and his line out pods were erratic. Trinity cannot expect to be title contenders with such a shambolic line out. The thomian ball winners were excellent in the air, doing their basics and securing good ball for their captain play puppet master.

The Thomians belied their inexperience in choosing when to run and when to kick. The running game was executed at the right time, and coach Dwyer seems to have moved slightly away from his ‘if you want to kick play football’ philosophy. The Thomians were pragmatic and thanks also to the astute positioning of their full back Javath both in attack and defence were able to run themselves out of trouble and also cause havoc in the midfield defence for Trinity. The midfield which defended stoutly against Science College were opened up time and again by Javath’s incisive turn of pace from deep. The full back was outstanding in the second half alongside his mates Jeerasinghe and Hasaka.

Ratwatte pulled a try back for Trinity during the ten minute period in which he appeared to find some form. However, much to their dismay Shiek hit the post for the second time in the game to see the scores remain at 19 – 15, instead of the two point deficit they should have got. Nevertheless, the plucky Thomians led ably by their pivot Jayasinghe hit back with another penalty to take them to some safety at 22 – 15 with about ten minutes to play.

Trinity knew that a goal would save their blushes and started throwing the kitchen sink at the Thomians. However, with any lapse being punished with huge negative yardage, Trinity found themselves having to struggle to win their own ball, leave alone run with it. As a desperate attempt to run it out of their 22 resulted in a huge hit by Jeerasinghe on Ratwatte, the resultant loose ball was pounced upon by STC to score the clincher and take the game to 27-15 in the last minute of the game. The Thomian supporters invaded the field in their exhilaration at having signalled a return to some sort of rugby respectability. After the crowd had been dispersed and Jayasinghe knocked over the formality of the conversion the Thomians celebrated like there was no tomorrow. At the time of writing (it’s 1am now) several Thomians, much the worse for wear, will be staggering out of Colombo’s many rugby clubs.

The execution and sheer adrenalin of the Thomian performance needs to be applauded. This is not an average Trinity side. It’s a good side. They’d probably be the first to admit that they played below par. The replacement of the Pereras with Alahakoon and Rideemahaliyadda at no.8 and scrum half resulted the new combination not being upto scratch in the first game together. Ratwatte was finding his centres being closed down quickly and was therefore at a loss as to what options to take. His desperation under pressure was evident when the game was urgent for Trinity in the last five minutes and he was still opting to kick.

The Thomian line out was outstanding, as were their centres, who were strong both in attack and defence. Javath’s work rate and bravery was brilliant from fullback and Jayasinghe calmly turned the opposition around and made some telling cover tackles. Very much the underdog, S. Thomas’ displayed the true Thomian grit to hold on with some desperate defence at some points of the game. While the team gave it their all on the field, the coaches, Grant Dwyer and Jivan Goonetilleke had obviously done a superb job in reading and nullifying the opposition and implementing a foolproof game plan – if ever there was one. It was an upset win no doubt, but that must not take away from the quality of the execution that STC showed.

Look out Royal.