St. Joseph’s and Wesley in crucial clash for final slot
St. Joseph’s College and Wesley College will confront each other for the second time in two weeks this season having earlier clashed in the Dialog Schools Rugby League second round encounter where the Josephians came out victorious by 26 points to 11 that ensured the second spot in the league championship.
The two teams will now confront each other in the crucial Dialog Schools Rugby Knockout semi-final game scheduled to be played at Havelock Park today to decide who will succeed to battle it out in the final against Isipathana slated to be played on September 11.
Looking back at the performance of the two teams in the knockout stage since it began way back in 1985. St. Joseph’s emerged champions for the first ever time in 2017 after defeating Isipathana College, and then played second fiddle to traditional rivals St. Peter’s the following year.
The Wesleyites too have clinched the knockout title which they achieved in 2013 defeating Trinity College and prior to that ended up as runners-up on three occasions in 2002, 2004 and 2019. Likewise the two teams will come into the game on a mission with the Josephians looking for a repeat while the Wesleyites will be seeking to take revenge of their first defeat and a closely contested affair is no doubt on the cards.
The Josephians, led by centre Teran Karunanayake, will seek the services of their experienced players in the likes of No.8 Naveen Marasinghe, who is in top form, flyhalf Dilhara Subash, prop Jehan Athukorala, flanker Sachinthana Waidyantha, second row Randika Dahamjaya, Isuru Kanchana, Sithija Sanjeewa, hooker Chamod Seneviratne, winger Deshan Vimukthi, flyhalf Sahan Keerthisiri, prop Jehan Athukorala and centres Vihanga Randeepa and Mandara Amarasekera to deliver the goods.
On the other hand the Wesleyites, led by fullback Tharusha Jayaweera, will pin their hopes on playmaker and scrum half Rigesh Muralidaran, who has been the thick of happenings, prop Hafiz Thabeeth, winger Nithila Rodrigo, centre Shane Hopwood, winger Maleesha Thiranagama, pop Shem Elisha and flyhalf Shaveen Jayawardena. However predicting the final outcome is not going to be easy and as mentioned with the match being crucial for both the sides an interesting tussle for supremacy can be expected.
Two other semi-final matches in the lower divisions are scheduled to be played on the same day, with St. John’s Nugegoda taking on Nalanda at 10.00am in the Chairman’s Trophy followed by the game between Zahira and Thurstan in the Premier Trophy at 2.00pm, prior to the clash between St. Joseph’s and Wesley.