Close contest expected at Kingswood and St. Anthony’s
St. Anthony’s College will confront Kingswood College in their Dialog Schools Rugby League 2023 first round encounter at the Pallekele Rugby Stadium this evening. The kickoff will be at 4.00p/m.
The Antonians are led by cracking fly half, Shahan Keerthisiri and they will be looking for their third win after a long wait. They beat St. Joseph’s at Bogambara in their very first game more than a month back.
After beating the Joes 22-12, they lost out to D.S. Senanayake College 19-23 in a close contest a week later at Pallekelle. They travelled down to Colombo and edged out Wesley 30-29 in a thriller and their last encounter despite a spirited second half burst, lost to defending champions, Isipathana 27-36.
The lads from Katugastota aggregate 97 points for and conceding 101, which shows some gaping holes to shut down sooner than later as they are left with only this game and one more against the S. Thomas’ at home.
Meanwhile the Kingswoodians are one of the talented sides and are yet to register their first win despite being featured in six games. They lost out to Isipathana 8-32, St. Joseph’s 10-47, S. Thomas’ 17-28 and D.S. Senanayake 27-31. They have collected 57 points while conceding 138 points.
The Randles Hills outfit is led by Imanka Ishara, a crack player who leads the team from the front with Ishan Inoon as the deputy, who has been outstanding this season. Radhila Ranaweera and Afthab Asmi too stood out for their outfit and will be looking out for the winning formula.
Meanwhile the Antonians got ample talent with their scrum half, Oshan Gunarathne being nippy and a playmaker. Fast running Roshen Kumara and Tiron Mariyadas will add more boost in their outfit. At present in the points table, the Antonians are placed fifth with 12 points while Kingswood are placed last with two points.
Vidyartha out for third win
Vidyartha College will be out for their third win this season when they confront Zahira College in their Dialog Schools Rugby League encounter which will be worked off today at the Bogambara Stadium.
Vidyartha so far has beaten Science 26-19 and Dharmaraja 29-22 and lost out to Trinity 10-20 and Royal 3-47. Meanwhile Zahira tasted wins against Science 24-8 and Dharmaraja 18-15, but lost against Royal 3-44 and St. Peter’s 7-56.