Michael Guneratne Memorial Trophy Rugby:

Thomians favoured to retain trophy today

BY CHRIS Dhambarage

S. THOMAS' College will be hoping to regain the Michael Guneratne Memorial trophy after a lapse of five years when they take on the traditional rivals Royal College in their 50th annual inter-school rugby tournament match at Havelock Park today.

This match is of great importance for both teams as they will be making their first appearance in the Singer 'A' division league tournament.

The Thomians led by Sri Lanka under 19 captain Namal Rajapaksa are fielding an experienced side with eleven coloursmen and seem to have a good chance of pulling off the game.

However S. Thomas' have not beaten Royal since 2000 where they emerged victorious under the leadership of Gavin Jayasekera at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Royal College have dominated the series during the last few years and also won last year's fixture by a convincing margin of 18 points to 8 points.

The Michael Gunaratne Trophy was first offered for competition between the two schools in 1962 and since then 42 matches have been played in the series with Royal winning 21 and S. Thomas College 16 with five games ending in draws.

The match was not played in 1979 due to a dispute between the two schools regarding the dates of the match.

The Thomians did not fair well last year recording only four victories in the 'A' division league tournament against St. Peter's College (20-6), St. Anthony's College (22-10), Isipatana (12-10) and St. Joseph's College (27-25). They lost to Wesley College (3-7), Trinity College (15-21) and Kingswood College (0-20).

This time the Thomians will be fielding a star studded line up and are all set to bring an end to a five year long wait. Apart from Namal Rajapaksa they will have the services of two other Sri Lankan youth players in Nadeeshan Kariyawasam and Indika Seneviratne who will perform in the front row.

Vice captain and fly half Dinesh Siriwardena, full back Sanjay Samarasinghe, hooker J, Zainudeen, flanker I. Mohamed, scrum half Ruwan Jayatissa, centre Viran Udugama, second row forwards Dilan de Silva and Praveen Gunasekera are the other senior players in the team.

Royal of course have lost some of their star players from this year and will have a tough task in retaining the trophy for another year. Royal emerged runners up in the 'A' division league tournament last season winning five out of seven games.

They beat Wesley (24-0), Ananda (39-5), Isipatana (8-5) and Trinity College losing only one game against St. Anthony's College (13-14) and figured in a 10 all draw against Kingswood College.

This time Royal will be captained by Sri Lanka youth cap Varun Wijewardena and also includes four other under 19 youth players namely Prashan Liyanage, W. Kasun, Chatura Hettiarachchi and Sandaruwan.

Wesley v Ananda

Wesley College and Ananda College will also come out for the first time this season when the two schools clash in another Singer 'A' division league tournament match at Longden Place today.

The two schools have figured in some of the more exciting games in the past few years and another absorbing contest is on the cards. Last year the two schools met during the latter stages of the season and that match actually decided the third place in the final points table.

The Wesleyites pulled off a thrilling 25 points to 20 points win over the Anandians in 2004 and will be even more determined to make a good start to the new inter-school season.

Another significant achievement in Wesley's performances last year was their historic 18-13 win against Isipatana which was recorded after a lapse of 41 years. They also defeated Carey College (49-3), St. Anthony's (18-6) before going down to Kingswood and Royal.

This year the Wesley team is captained by fly half B. O. Sariffodeen with prop forward Henry Terrence as his deputy.

In addition they have retained the services of six other players who performed last year including winger Niranjan Wickremaratne, full back Yasas Nonis, centre Yomal Amaratunga and scrum half Samantha Lakshan.

The Anandians in contrast will be fielding a new look side with Sri Lanka youth player and fly half Sumith Dahanayake as the captain. Vice captain Isuru and number eight Gayan Fernando are the only other senior players in the side.

Last year the Anandians enjoyed a fantastic season and were placed fourth in the Singer 'A' division league tournament final points table. They recorded victories against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia (8-5), Isipatana (8-5) and St. Anthony's (13-7).

They also defeated their traditional rivals Vidyartha College 27-7 in the first leg and 13 nil in the second leg to retain the William Gopallawa Shield. They also had the satisfaction of defeating Isipatana for the second time 18-16 in the President's trophy knock out tournament quarterfinals.