Peterites take 2006 rugby ‘plum’

By Harry Jayachandra

This season’s schools rugby tournament has been clouded by violence. However, St Peter’s won the Championship. Of more interest though was the relegation battle. With matches in the ‘A’ Division concluded Ananda and Thurstan have been demoted to the ‘B” Division.

Peterites beat St. Anthony’s on their own backyard last week to make sure of the school’s rugby plum - Pic by Ranjith Perera

Ananda managed one win in their six outings while Thurstan were clearly out of their league losing all their matches. S. Thomas’ must be thanking their saint. They finished ahead of Ananda by just a mere .66.

Irrespective of yesterday’s result Trinity can celebrate the fact that they will climb on to the ‘A’ Division championship next year. Meanwhile Dharmaraja who were docked four points for violence following their game against Vidyartha, have been demoted to the ‘C’ Division. Joining them are Science Collge who also failed to win a single match in their division.

The fate of Vidyartha still hangs in the balance. This is following what occurred after their game against Ananda. Schools Rugby Union sources told The Sunday Times that Vidyartha’s fate could be very much worse than that of Dharmaraja. An inquiry will be held tomorrow. The second team to advance to the ‘A’ Division, will also be known tomorrow. The situation would have been much clearer had Royal not protested against Isipathana for fielding two players who had not passed their O’Level Examination. If Royal’s appeal is upheld they could be promoted to the top division. This hearing is also set for tomorrow.

The teams to qualify and get relegated from the bottom two divisions is still not clear as a few matches remain to be played. However, according to the points table released yesterday. St. Sylvester’s Kandy has been promoted from the ‘C’ Division while Lumbini have been demoted to the last division. Meanwhile Mahanama Colombo with a perfect record of six wins out of six games has been promoted to the ‘C’ Division.