Trinity fight back to capture top spot
View(s):Trinity College, who suffered a defeat at the hands of S. Thomas College, a ‘B’ Division side, came back strong at the end of the fourth week to beat the high-riding Petes. With this win Trinity took over the leadership of the Singer Schools Division 1 A league, which is now interestingly poised. The game between Trinity and St. Peter’s did not reach a high pitch in rugby and for the most part was slow-paced and contrary to what one may have expected from both teams.
Two matches, St. Peter’s vs. Dharmaraja and Wesley vs. Trinity would be over by this week and we will know whether the challenge from the Petes will continue or whether it will be Trinity and Dharmaraja that will be left to fight it out in the battle for the top spot.
The fourth week started with minnows St. Anthony’s and St. Joseph’s, both of whom have one win each, poised to consolidate their position. A heavy rain at Bogambara delayed the start of the game and the fading light forced the game to be stopped with around twenty minutes still left. With a seven-all draw, both teams remain where they are. They fight for the seventh and eighth positions with a possibility of going up one or one down. The Joes went into a shell for about twenty minutes of the first half and were lucky that the Antonians failed to capitalize.
Royal and Science have won two matches each and are fighting for the fifth and sixth positions. Royal, who were without a win in the first two weeks, have come back strong to beat much talked about Wesley College. In the first half it was Wesley who led by 12 points to 7. Royal first capitalized on a mistake of Wesley and then had the whole of the second half in their control to win the match by 31 points to twelve. Most Royalists are now in the comfort zone as they feel the team is coming back with the Bradby in sight.
Science did well to beat Isipathana, who have lost all four games played so far and are joined by Kingswood, who remain in the same position. It was sheer determination and more running rugby that secured Science their first ever win over Isipathana.While the game is getting into an interesting gear, the unsporting attitude of some seems to surface from a corner it has been assigned to. There was taunting of the referee following the Wesley-Royal match and should have been avoided. This is a game and it is important not to give the wrong signals to the young schoolboys.
The other incident at the SACK -St Joseph’s match was more unsavory and has to be looked into by the school involved. The incident however had nothing to do with the host team, St. Anthony’s College. However the host school as well as other schools must read the SLSRFR hand book. “12.2-6. shall nominate an official to receive match officials at the venue, show them to the dressing room etc, and look after their welfare until they leave the match venue.”
Trinity remains unbeaten in the ongoing schools rugby league tournament. - File pic
The above is quoted as the incident occurred long before the match when the referee who travelled from Colombo arrived at the venue at around 15.00 hrs. It is alleged that while no official of the school was available, a person related to the ground authorities, suggested by a person alleged to be a coach of a junior team of another school, had walked into the referee’s room and threatened the match official. It is believed that the incident relates to another match officiated by the same referee. This is simply not a done thing and reference is made to the French Coach Bernard Laporte, who was officially censured in July 2007 by the French Federation for his outburst at Australian referee Stuart Dickinson after matches against the All Blacks.
At that time the International Rugby Board said that Laporte had been forced by the French Federation to write a letter of apology to Dickinson after the incident following the first of two heavy defeats to the All Blacks. Dickinson took charge of the first Test in Auckland and was verbally abused by Laporte when the pair met the following week in a Wellington hotel lobby. The important thing to note is the following week when the incident occurred.
Talking of the tournament rules posted on the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association website I came across the following which is somewhat confusing and is neither fish nor fowl. The handbook in 13.4.4 starts with the laws that are Under 20 I presue and later goes to state the following, “If one team is, one player short, then its scrum must be in a 3-2-1 formation two players short, then its scrum must be in a 3-2 formation.”
This is neither U20 nor U19. The U19 variations talk of is a 3- 4 formation when one is short and 3 – 2 -1 formation when two players are short so forth till the minimum is 3-2; mistakes do occur and have to be looked at when people threaten legal action at the drop of a hat and this is a U20 tournament.
- Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, Coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus