• Drub Thurstan 97-16

Royal College warmed up for the super round with a runaway 97-16 win over Thurstan College in their one-sided Schools Rugby League match at Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday (3).

For the winners, their two wingers – Didula Jayasuriya (right wing six tries) and left wing Amika Samarasinghe (left wing five tries) – had a field day, as the lads from Reid Avenue scored 15 tries in all (11 converted) to tune up for the crucial knock-out round next week.

For Royal, Thiren Lakdev (two tries), Hiruka Jayanidu, and prop Y. Bandara also scored a try each as they scored 57 second-half points after leading 40-7 at the interval.

For Thurstan, playing top division rugby following a long layoff, they fell off one-on-one tackles against their fleet-footed opponents and went down tamely in the final analysis.

Open-side flanker Chanithu Perera’s sixth-minute intercept try was the only bright moment in a forgettable game for Thurstan, where fullback Nethpul Lasanda fired over three penalties, but the gulf in class between the teams was evident to all and sundry. 

(JK)