Rajans on cloud nine as Trinity plummet
Dharmaraja College stamped their authority on the ongoing Singer Under-20 Schools Rugby League Division I ‘A’ points table as the competition completed its seventh week. Dharmaraja cemented the top spot of the points table after handing hometown rivals St. Anthony’s College a 48-26 defeat at Nittawela last Sunday. But a day prior to it, Trinity College, who led the points table all the way, lost to sixth seed St. Joseph’s College by a slender margin of 18-17 to make Dharmaraja the table leaders.
Dharmaraja remains as the only unbeaten team in Division I ‘A’.
Until last Saturday evening both Trinity and Dharmaraja were evenly poised, battling each other to gain possession of the group. Finally after the slight push provided by Trinity, Dharmaraja powered their way to a comprehensive win in order to snatch the top spot with two more weeks of play pending. If Dharmaraja continues their progress at this pace, which they have proven after seven games with six wins and a draw, they could be the first school rugby team in history to win the Schools League Championship immediately after emerging champions in Division I ‘B’ the previous season.
Trinity, after their shocking loss at the hands of St. Joseph’s, was pushed down to second place as Wesley College moved up from fourth to third after beating giant killers Science College by 24-14. St. Peter’s College faced an unexpected loss to Kingswood College by 41-15 and moved down a slot to fourth. Despite their controversial loss to Isipathana College by 27-20, Royal College shot up two places to fifth as favourites lost to underdogs in four games on Saturday.
Dharmaraja scored a resounding win against St. Anthony’s last weekend, after a fighting victory against Wesley in Colombo.
In the bottom half is Kingswood, who is the greatest achiever of the week after their 
triumph against St. Peter’s. They were placed at the bottom a week earlier but the win took them up to sixth in the table. At seventh is Science, who swapped places with Royal followed by St. Joseph’s at eighth. Despite beating Trinity by a point, the Josephians remain at where they were as St. Anthony’s, after losing to table leaders Dharmaraja, came down to ninth from sixth. At the bottom are defending champions Isipathana, who failed to create a major impact on their place from last week’s win against Royal.
This week was an off-day for all teams as Sri Lanka observed the Vesak week but the upcoming weekend promises to be highly exciting considering the matches that are to be played. The pick of the games will be the first leg of the Bradby Shield, which will be played at Pallekele between Trinity and Royal. Elsewhere in Kandy, Kingswood are slotted to take on Wesley at Bogambara and St. Anthony’s will meet Science at Nittawela. At Bambalapitiya, St. Peter’s will host Isipathana while St. Joseph’s will meet Dharmaraja at Longdon Place. All these matches are expected to have thrilling finishes.
In the Division I ‘B’ segment, S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia are going great guns, with seven straight wins, as they aim for an obvious promotion to the top group. Besides S. Thomas’ unbeaten run, D.S. Senanayake College will be the next team to watch from that group. Ananda College will also be battling it out in the hope of a possible promotion. From Division I ‘C’, Piliyandala Central continue to enjoy a clean run with seven wins under their belt followed by St. Benedict’s College, who are second in the group with six wins and a defeat in seven matches.
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