Now it all leads to the Royal-Isipathana clash
View(s):The schools rugby league is leading to a standoff between arch rivals Royal and Isipathana. There may be many that would be disappointed as they hyped themselves to high spirit as well as high ticket prices. There will be others who rose from the initia slump and now are a threat to the giants.
Royal College has been gradually progressing; posing threat to reigning Singer League Champions Isipathana College, who are unbeaten and on their way to defend their crown - Pic by Amila Gamage
The match between the two unbeaten teams has been scheduled for the last week of the league matches. The winners will be known after the final whistle of this match and the tension will continue no matter who wins. The only other possibility is; if in the next two weeks one of the schools loses a match. If both schools were to lose a match each the status quo will remain. Expectation that both schools will be defeated in two matches is a dream some big spenders may have and in rugby the possibility does exist. This will mean at least continued hope.
By the time this column is read the results of Royal vs. St. Peters and Science vs. Isipthana will be known. This will give a fair idea of the running in place 3rd to 6th place with bets being placed on Kingswood and S. Thomas’ for 7th and 8th place.
Oh! To the Kings of Kandy and the Saints of Mount it is very much that you will have to look for the next season and look back with disappointment. Anybody interested in a vacancy for a coach can apply as the shout for blood does always surface when matches are lost. Matches are won and lost and these are schoolboys who have to take in good spirit. When you read of someone wanting to hang a captain because a match was lost; that is not the spirit of rugby which is what the game expects. Neither is it good for the psyche of a young boy who is ready to step into the world. Better would have been to ask for the scalp of the matured guides who are older and thick skinned and have the experience to withstand an onslaught: but may have failed.
Trinity did well to recover and play in a winning style against St. Peter’s but failed to capitalize of a 20-point lead they had on hand. The Peterites on the other hand seemed to be inspired by the entry of their captain, Dixon, who was inspiring and led from the front. Without him they seemed lost and have to take into account that they have to play with or without that one man who makes a difference. Science College who I have always thought as a dark horse upset the hopes of St. Joseph’s who like Trinity had only lost one match up to the first week of the second round. Thus both schools fall into the bucket with the schools that will be fighting for places and not the Cup. The fight is an interesting soup with Trinity, St. Peter’s Science and Joes fighting for places to be placed behind the first two as they stand at present. At the moment these teams are placed in the above order taking the tries score as they have won an equal amount of matches.
The Trinity Kingswood match will be of interest as both teams have a front row that does not scrum well. Kingswood I thought was closer to the bottom in this area and one may see some not so good scrums; but still I will bet on the lions to keep their position among 3rd to 6th. With the scrum call made slower with an intention of steady and safe scrums things seem to be better for some while others have been unable to build a safe platform.
While tight fights are on for places from 3rd to 6th Royal had an easy passage against Kingswood. This week too Royal with forty nine points on the board did mass changes sending a block of seven from the bench. Fresh legs and exposure means they have almost twenty five players to draw from in the next three weeks. Pathana too annihilated S. Thomas’ and had an easy to the second week of the second round. It appears that Pathana and Royal are polishing themselves with each match and the battle between these two will be interesting.
While the schools in Segment I go about their job, I watched a game in the Plate between Wesley and Zahira. The lads from Maradana shocked the Wesley team before going down. Yet I don’t believe that these teams that are vying for the Plate show any signs of being in the same league to challenge the first eight teams. It will probably mean that SACK, Wesley, Dharmaraja will remain in the top segment next year probably joined by DSS which might be the only team that may climb from Division 2. The gap that is existing is wide and gets wider as witnessed in a Bowl game played between Ananda and Mahanama, won by Ananda. It was a close fight to the end which kept the supporters screaming despite that rugby was much scrappy.
* Vimal Perera is a former player, coach, referee and an IRB Accredited Referees’ Educator