S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, came out of the jaws of defeat overpowering Dharmaraja College by a wafer-thin margin of 22-20 in the Singer League Inter-school Rugby fixture at Bogambara Stadium yesterday.

A victory is a victory, thus the Thomians should be commended for their brave effort as they came from behind to beat the home team after trailing behind 17-8 at the breather.

The winners accumulated their points off two goals, a try and penalty, while the Rajans could muster two goals and two penalties.

Rajans who were well in command leading at 20-8 at one stage, threw away their chances and their main lapse was that they were not consolidating well and they lost valuable possession with some scrappy play towards the end. Their spirits came out by the dying stages of the game but then it was too late. On the other hand Rajan forwards gave a torrid time for the Thomains and kept them at bay but later their vigour declined gradually and could not hold the unyielding three quarters from Mount Lavinia.

Thoras drew first blood when they were awarded a penalty in the 16th minute of play as the Rajans were penalised for going over the top in a ruck situation and scrum half Manjith Thamanagama put over for the visitors for them to lead 3-0. Rajans shot back immediately, when their fly half intercepted a pass on the move and made a 30-meter dashing before he scored under the post and full back Indika Wickramanayake added the extra points for the home team to take over the lead 7-3. It was tit for tat and this time the Thomian prop forward Rajendra Gunasekara who scored a push over try which was generated off a maul. As Manjith Thamanagama missed the difficult kick at the goal, the scores stood at 8-7 in S. Thomas’ favour.

Then came the dominance of the Kandy team. They had pocession of the ball and as a result, did well to score, first off a penalty followed by a fine try by their winger, Malinga Godigamauwa who covered a distance of over 45-meters as he intercepted a pass in a three quarter move before going over near the post. Indika Wickramanayake added the extras for the Rajans to lead 17-8 at lemons.

Rajan dominance continued even after lemons and thus they elevated their lead by three more points since the Thoamins were penalised for playing from an off side position in a ruck situation and it was Wickramayake’s turn to successfully take the Kandy team’s lead up to 20-8 with his accurate kick at the goal.

What transformed later was a different story and the Thomains made a valiant effort in subsidsing their energy for a win and they did show signs of the same and opened with a push over try by their skipper Rohitha Rajapaksa in the 12 minute of the second half followed with another by their winger Heshan Gunaratne and their place kicker, Thamanagama assured their victory with two fine kicks at the goal to take over the lead for the first time after 40 minutes of play.

Rajans’ wallop was on the cards but as their last two penalty kicks went astray at the dying stages of the game, the lads from Mout Lavinia emerged victorious.

Priyantha Gunaratne refereed.