COLOMBO : Isipathana College and Wesley College locked horns in a Cup Championship encounter of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 Saturday, (19th of July) at Havelock Park. After a back and forth contest which went right down the wire, Isipathana College managed to end the unbeaten run of Wesley College and win the encounter 21-17.
At the start of the encounter, the Double Blues defense stood tall and managed to put Isipathana College under notice. Wesley then found themselves inside the opposition half and the hosts conceded a penalty which Abdul Haadhi kicked through quite easily (IC 00 – 03 WC)
For the first 20 minutes of the game although there was a lot of action there were no tries. But after Isipathana College were shown a 2nd Yellow Card and a high tackle infringement also came in, Wesley College made use of it to infiltrate the Isipathana’s defense within a few phases as Kaizey Lye went over. Haadhi added the extras to make it a 2 point game for the visitors (IC 00 – 10 WC)
A couple of minutes later, Isipathana College received a penalty when one of the Wesley played entered the maul from the side and the home team went for their bread and butter this season opting for the territory gainer followed up by the rolling maul which took them over convincingly from the 5m distance as Kaveen Jayasinghe added another try to his tally. Although the conversion didn’t go over, it was a much needed try for the Green Machine going into the the half time break (IC 05 – 10)
Half-Time :- Isipathana College 05 – 10 Wesley College
Isipathana College started the second half well and they looked to be in much more control. Around the 45th minute, Nimantha Sandeepa, Sanija Jayaweera and Kaveen Jayasinghe took their team into the opposition 22m with some powerful ball carries and with the incoming pressure Wesley College conceded a line offside penalty. Thrinethra Dodangoda opted to go for the points and Avishka Hiran kicked it through to decrease the deficit down to 2 points (IC 08 – 10 WC)
After scoring 8 consecutive points in the match, Isipathana College found their rhythm and once again entered the opposition half. The visitors once again fumbled under pressure as Kaveesha Dilhara conceded a penalty for not supporting his body weight at a ruck. Hiran took his team close to the whitewash with a thumping territory gainer and from the line-out they went long and Shaakib Zumri used his pure power and long levers to reach over the line and score the try which gave Isipathana the lead. Hiran added the extras to increase their lead further (IC 15 – 10 WC)
To continue the momentum for Isipathana, Sethum Rajapakshe forced a holding on penalty from a kickable distance after Haadhi tried to get out of jail and they once again went for the points which Hiran kicked through adding 3 more to make it 18 consecutive points for the home team (IC 18 – 10 WC)
However Isipathana’s own mistake laid the foundation for Wesley to mount a comeback when one of the Isipathana players chased a kick from an offside position which enabled Wesley to hit back hard. Mohommad Fawaz took the quick tap and gained some good meters before Isipathana conceded another penalty. This time the visitors decided to run they needed just 2 phases to touchdown for a try through Nelith Hapugalle. Haadhi converted the try to make it a single point game (IC 18 – 17 WC)
Unfortunately for Wesley they couldn’t cash in after the try as they gave away a penalty to Isipathana inside their own half just a few minutes later. Hiran who didn’t miss much throughout the day added 3 more points as Wesley now needed a try to win the game in the last 10 minutes (IC 21 – 17 WC)
During the home stretch of the game, Wesley College came very close to scoring a try but the Isipathana defense managed to hold the fort right until the last minute. The game reached its climax when Wesley College finally went over through a powerful rolling maul only for it to be disallowed by the TMO after an infringement. With 20 seconds to go after the incident, Isipathana kicked the ball into touch and pulled off a line-out successfully before Hiran kicked the ball out. Havelock Park erupted in celebrations of the Green Machine fans with the final whistle and although it was jubilation for the home team, it was heartbreak for the Double Blues who suffered their first loss of the league.
The game was phenomenal one as a whole where both the teams had their moments but some crucial errors and maybe some decisions they took probably cost Wesley the game while Isipathana on the other hand produced their most convincing 2nd half performance of the league so far.
Shaakib Zumri was always there for the Green Machine when they needed him. In defense and offense he was equally important for the home team and he also scored the decisive 2nd try for Isipathana which made the Swisstek Perfect Player of the Match.
Full-Time :- Isipathana College 21 (2T 1C 3P) defeated Wesley College 17 (2T 2C 1P) – The Papare
