Schools Rugby kicks off as scheduled on Feb. 24
All set for the kick off of the Schools Rugby League as planned earlier - File pic by Amila Gamage
Negating speculations about the postponement coming schools rugby season, now it is almost certain that the season would kick off scheduled on February 24. Earlier speculations were rife that the Inter-School League Rugby Championship was most likely be postponed till mid March.
However, the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) now affirms that the Inter-School Division I Rugby League Championship 2017 will commence as planned from February 24. .
“There were uncertainties earlier on after finalising arrangements but by now we can confirm that there will be no delays in kick-starting the Schools League Championship. The competition will kick off as planned from February 24,” Said Denzil Darling, the Secretary of SLSRFA.
The doubt about the commencement of the Inter-School Division I Rugby League Championship 2017 was about the scheduling of some of the traditional cricket big matches that are just about to begin.
Besides there were fears that some of next week’s Dialog Clifford Cup Inter-Club Knockout Championship fixtures were clashing.However Sri Lanka Rugby Union released the dates for the annual knockout championship which may only come across the Inter-School Division I League Championship 2017 with the final match which falls on a Sunday, February 26. The remainder of the club knockout championship — the four quarter-finals and the two semi-finals — will be already played by February 23, a day prior to the schedule kick off of the schools league 2017.
“There are some schools that play annual cricket ‘Big Matches’ from the Schools Rugby League lineup. But they enjoy the liberty to shift their rugby matches accordingly after discussing with their opposing teams, if they come across such clashes, by making use of the given ‘rest week’. We advanced the league tournament after considering seriously for valid reasons and we find no fair rationale to backdate the tournament by a month or so,” Darling added.
With no changes taking place of the dates, the much awaited Schools Rugby League Championship 2017 will kick off from February 24 with defending champions Isipathana College taking on Dharmaraja College. The first round of the action-packed Schools Rugby season will run along for five weeks uninterrupted before the group standings are decided by March 27.
Twelve teams are making their appearance in the Division I in the upcoming season, and the teams will be divided into two groups. Each group will consist of six teams each and they will play each other during the five weeks of play in the first round. Title holders Isipathana is in the top of the draw of Division I Segment ‘A’ in which Royal, St. Peter’s, St. Anthony’s, St. Joseph’s and Dharmaraja colleges are competing.
The top of the Division I Segment ‘B’ is held by last year’s runners-up S. Thomas’ with Science, Trinity, Wesley, Zahira and Prince of Wales colleges completing the lineup. In the second round the top four teams of each group will compete under the ‘Cup’ Championship while the bottom two teams from each group and the top four teams from Division II will contest for the ‘Plate’ Championship.
According to SLSRFA Secretary, Darling, the second round was is scheduled to begin after the ‘New Year’ vacation break in mid April but first week’s play will kick off from April 4 to 10. Then the competition will take a break of two weeks before moving on with the remainder of the second round and then the Schools Knockout Championship soon afterwards.
“We have already reserved dates for player registration in Colombo and Kandy. Schools from Colombo, its suburbs, Kalutara, Galle, Matara and regions close to Western Province can do their player registration on February 15, 16 and 17 at the SLSRFA office at Lumbini College in Colombo. Schools from Kandy, Matale and Badualla areas can register their players on February 18 at St. Sylvester’s College in Kandy. All these plans are being made to start the competition on time,” Darling affirmed.