| Thomians
off to a winning start
By Shamseer Jaleel
S. Thomas' College kicked off the 2004 rugby season with a rousing
20-6 victory over St Peter's College thus retaining the Archibald
Pereira Trophy in their annual inter-school rugby encounter at Longdon
Place last week.
The
Thomian pack playing excellent rugby led by Namal Rajapakse and
Ashan Karthelis were far superior to their opponents. Though the
lads from Bambalapitiya led 6-3 at "Lemons" the Thomians'
re-grouped and played cohesive rugby to outclass their opponents.
The Thomian forwards changed their tactics and opened out the game
with some dynamic play by their playmaker Namal Rajapakse, in the
second half. The Peterites made a horrible start to the season,
playing minus their star winger Mohamed Rinaz who was side lined
due to an injury sustained in a recently concluded Athletic meet.
This injury is a repeat of last season where the star winger could
play only one match in the whole season and the Peterites were demoted
to the "B" division.
St
Peter's vs Nalanda
The inter-school rugby season for 2004/2005 kicked off at Bambalapitiya
recently with the host Peterite team winning unimpressively over
Nalanda College by 19-10. The lads from Bampalapitiya cut loose
late in the second half to plant 2 tries to seal victory. Nalanda
side played open rugby but fitness proved the deciding factor between
the two teams. With former Sri Lanka skipper Hisham Abdeen who is
looking after the side will have a lot of work with the young side
and this kind of start by Nalanda will assure the school rugby season
to have a few surprises stored in for the spectators.
Ananda
win 1st Leg of Gopaallawa Shield
Ananda College opened their school Rugby season by playing their
arch rivals Vidyartha College Kandy in their annual encounter.,
which is played for the Gopaallawa Shield. After being held to nil
all in the initial half Ananada XV played better in the second half
to beat their opponents by crossing the line twice and they also
put over a penalty to win by 13-0. Ananda who are competing in the
"A" division did not convert their good work into points.
The second leg will be played in Colombo later in the season.
Wesley
win
Wesley started the season on a high note by beating Carey College
by 39-3 in an one sided affair at Havelock Park. The lads from Campbell
Park planted 7 tries against a weaker side, which lacked direction
and ran out of ideas.
Zahira
in upset win over Joes
Zahira College pulled off an exciting 16-12 win over the much-fancied
St Joseph's College in one of the inter-school rugby matches played
in Colombo recently. Zahira who were 3-5 at half time hit back by
some superb forwards play to beat the Darley Road school. This was
a good win for the Zahirians as they lost to the Darley Road school
last year by 7-26.
St.
Sylvester's outclass Benedictines
St Sylvester's College Kandy outclassed their opponents in a one
sided game by 56-7 after leading by 29-7 at "Lemons".
The lads from Kandy completely dominated in scrums as well as lineouts
and punched holes in the weaker defence of the St Benedict's team
who had no answer.
Thurstan
win
Thurstan kicked off the inter-school rugby season with a convincing
win over the Nalanda side by 18-0. Though the Thurstan side who
dominated play found a rock solid defence of the Campbell Place
school until late in the second half and never looked like going
through the Nalandaians. |
