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by Richard Dwight

The less fancied Ananda ruggerites, sprang what appeared to be a pleasant surprise in the cause of schools' rugby, in playing an enterprising brand of rugby, now seldom seen, to get the better of a hitherto promising Thomian outfit on Monday at the CR and FC grounds.

Here they were, the Thomians with perhaps an air of confidence, having chalked up a win over the Josephians last Friday, warming up with all the physical jerks possible and yelling out battle cries-looking ever so sprightly and confident to take on the unknown quantity', the Anandians, who were making their first appearance for the season.

The Anandians on the other hand were nowhere to be seen, so much so that a wag quipped have the Anandians got cold feet and failed to show up. Much to the contrary the Anandians were content to do their thing within the confines of their dressing room and exhorting as well one another with shouts of bravado.

Within seconds to go for the whistle they rammed into the field to line up for play. And no sooner the kick off, they lost no time in asserting themselves to the extent that they made in-roads into Thomian territory time and time again. Something which the spectators least expected and Thomian team did not bargain for.

The Thomians were under severe pressure to defend their line, with the Anandians making frequent forays to score and proved to be the dominant force for the major part of the match.

This was mainly due to Ananda having a workmanlike three quarter line, spearheaded by an equally versatile stand - off which always looked dangerous. It was encouraging to find that they had the ability to run the ball down either on the right or left flank and more importantly rarely did they drop a pass which is saying much.

They were innovative enough to sell the dummy or indulge in the scissor and when marked deftly resorted to the grubber, which caught the defence napping or cross kick to catch them on the wrong foot. this kind of rugby does prove to be attractive to pull crowds and Ananda would have scored much more, if they had the know-how to put the finishing touches to their brilliant moves that were in plenty and as well with a good place kicker.

S. Thomas played the less attractive rugger mainly through their forwards, having their own in the line-outs, loose mauls and rucks that found them through a forwards move score a goal. Any purposeful move initiated by the Thomians was nipped in the bud by resolute tackling.

All in all Ananda dished out splendid rugby, which we were privileged to feast on, and will do well to tighten up their game when meeting stiffer opposition from Royal, St. Peter's and yet others.

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