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Plain
sailing for Royal
By Bernie
Wijesekera This is the biggest margin that Royal has won in this contest. Royal who are defending champions are assured of retaining the Shield. The biggest margin of victory was in 1998. Royal under Shanka Perera won the shield 42-nil. Former Royal great Maurice Anghie, who led the team in 1959 was the chief guest. The rivalry between these two teams in the rugby scene has been absorbing since the inception. Though Trinity are in the lead in the series, their performance was like pale ale, not befitting a school that has been in the forefront in the schools rugby circuit. Royal started off with a bang in the second minute when fullback Chamath Danawansa, who had an excellent game, fired it over to take the lead 3-0. Trinity matched the Royal 'eight'. Royal in the process suffered a few hiccups, but got their act together when the threes ran amok against the disarrayed Trinity defence. Off a ten-metre Royal scrum, centre Rajith Jayasundare side-stepped beautifully to crash over the line for an unconverted try. At this stage it was running rugby at its best with the entire Royal back division handling the ball with precision. Lakshman
special Despite this Trinity forced their way to the Royal defence with their second rowers, Dushan de Silva and Manoj Vidanagamage winning much of the good ball in the long throws but it was lost in the loose against the marauding Royal forwards, who pounced on the ball like terriers with No 8. Dushantha Lewke being outstanding. In the 20th minute Trinity could have scored. When in possession in the Royal '25', but un-warranted play cost them a chance. Royal did not let up. They scored another peach of a try seconds before the short whistle when fullback Danawansa joined the line to dart over the corner flag. He himself converted to make it 20-0. Royal's young winger A.Rashid who came in place of Bilal Yusuf fumbled with the ball on a couple of occasions. The 17-year-old was replaced by Bilal Yusuf after the turn around. In this half Trinity winger Leelaratne, after being warned in the first half, was shown the yellow card by Referee Orville Fernando and was sent to the sin bin. In this half it was like the Mahaweli flood waters gushing through a tunnel. The Royalists playing copy book rugby ran riot to add 19 more points to the tally. In the 11th minute off a midfield move by second centre Varun Wijewardena. He broke through and scythed his way through the defence and passed the ball into the waiting hands of Dhanawansa to plant the ball under the crossbar. He himself converted 27-0. It was a showpiece of a try by centre Rajith, a strongly built lad, who bemused the Trinity defence with a 40 mere run to roll over for his second try under the posts. Danawansa added the extra points.(34-0). Trinity against this incessant assault lost their cool. Another player (Naushad) was sent to the sin-bin for unwarranted play. They had an opportunity of scoring through a penalty, but Prageeth Wasalathanthri fluffed a 'sitter'. The final Royal try came off a grubber sent by Dhanawansa. Fly-half Ishan Perera picked the loose ball to touch down to make a mockery of the Trinity defence. Referee Orville Fernando blew no-side for a right Royal first leg win at 39-0. Linesmen Kevin Lappen and Rohan Nisantha. In the Under 17 match Trinity did well to beat Royal 5-0 after a good contest. Trinity showed better rugby skills to win the match after leading 5-0 at lemons. They are the defending champions of the C.E. Simithrachchi Trophy. Referee Mr.Pradeep Fernando. Lanka's
spectacular failure With off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan edging his way back from a serious shoulder injury, the trip was billed as a "great opportunity", according to coach Dav Whatmore, "to show people we are not just a one-bowler team". But Sri Lanka, normally great entertainers and looking to extend their run of nine test wins in a row, did not come even close as they wound up their visit on Thursday with their 2-0 test defeat followed by one-day failure. Sanath Jayasuriya's side had arrived for their first full test series in England in early May and opened with 555 in the first innings at Lord's, Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene scoring centuries. They then forced England to follow on, only to see their fortunes accelerate downhill from there as they lost the three-match series 2-0. Muralitharan returned for the next two tests, even bowling 64 overs first time out at Edgbaston in taking five for 143, but was clearly not at his best. His finish as the side's most successful bowler, with eight wickets when only half-fit, underlined Sri Lanka's fundamental problems. Left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas did not help. A world-class performer, he was a shadow of his usual self as he claimed four test wickets for 108.5. Strike bowler Nuwan Zoysa blew hot and cold, while Ruchira Perera took five wickets in the first test before being reported for a suspect bowling action. England's batting statistics clearly reflected the Sri Lankans' bowling weaknesses. Seven of their batsmen averaged over 40 and six over 50. Two - Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher - were in the 80s. And all this carnage inflicted by a team that had not won a series for 12 months. The touring side also failed as a batting unit in conditions that should have favoured them and despite the absence of England's leading bowler Darren Gough. Coach Dav Whatmore conceded: "The wickets were pretty good. They could have been a lot more seaming". Yet apart from Atapattu and Jayawardene's bright beginning, there was little to cheer from some of the world's most attractive batsmen. To cap everything, skipper Sanath Jayasuriya, a man who favours committee captaincy rather than dictatorship, had a terrible tour, averaging just under 20 in the tests and even relegating himself from opener to number six at Old Trafford. "It doesn't help when you are not leading from the front. He has some thinking to do about where he bats in the side," Whatmore told Sky Television. Prasanna
steals the limelight He achieved this win overcoming experienced drivers in the calibre of Pubudu Wickrema and Rizvi Farouk. His navigator Andrew de Silva was a tower of strength in him winning the title.The rally was a gruelling test of skill in driving. Prasanna who was driving a Mitsubishi Pajero for the first time was representing the Southern Rally team who were the outsiders of this rally.They did not have a glimpse of a chance to pull off this rally but Andrew was behind Prasanna and was the secret of success backed by the other Southern Rally team comprising of Rizmin Razik and Ashar Hameem. The winning duo finished joint leaders when the penultimate stage was completed at Hambantota.Navigator Andrew already with a win in the Negombo rally last year was a shrewed customer who drew a plan of how to tackle the oncoming challenge to the finish. Previous winners of the rally Pubudu Wickrema and Rizvi Farouk were expected to fight for honours but Prasanna and Andrew with 30 debits surprised both of them. Following in second place was Stefan Furkhan and navigator Rohan Speldewinde who had 31 debits and in third place Pubudu Wickrema and Prasad Wickrema with 32 debits in fourth place was last years winner Rizvi Farouk and Aqthar Cuttilan also having 32 debits. The rally was not short of mishaps with Ashar Hameem having a radiator blow in the first stage and falling out of contention. Team Mobil- Autocolour Gajaba comprising of Pubudu Wickrema, Mahesh Gammanpila and Nishantha Nambuge won the team event. But again the SLADAR 1000 failed to produce a second time winner with hopeful contender Rizvi Farouk being the closest failing to acheive this. - MSA Winger
Rinaz with six tries equals record Fly half Dinuka Jayasinghe, winger Philip Asinghearachchi, scrum half Mahesh Fernando and flanker Ifthard Fazil were the other try scorers for the Peterites with Dinuka Jayasinghe converting six of the tries. Nalanda's try was scored by centre Vindula Siriwardena. Before this game commenced Rinaz had scored nineteen tries and with this six tries Rinaz equalled the schools record for the highest number of tries scored which was 25 tries jointly held by H.K. Sisira and former Sri Lanka captain Hisham Abdeen both Isipatanians. Incidentaly when H.K.Sisira scored those tries in 1976 Hisham was representing Zahira later Hisham equalled it in 1980 while playing for Isipatana. But Rinaz has two more games to play which is against St Anthony's and St Joseph's so he is well on the way of establishing a new schools record. Hisham having got the news that Rinaz has equalled the record spoke to The Sunday Times and said that he would like to personaly congratulate Rinaz on his superb performance and he is proud to see an up and coming rugby player in the making. Referee: M. Amadoru. S.Thomas'
win Number 8 Namal Rajapakse and second row Lalinda Siriwardena scored the tries for the Thomians while full back Kevin Cameron booted the penalty. For the Josephians fly half Dhanushka Perera scored the try with full back Priyantha Pradeep puting over the penalty. The Thomians won the junior game too 17-0. Ajith Fernando blew the junior game while Preethi Kumar controlled the senior game.- MSA |
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