Schools Rugby Review

Joes and Peterites steal the limelight

by Chris Dhambarage

Traditional rivals St. Joseph's College and St. Peter's College produced two outstanding performances to steal the limelight during the final week of matches in the Singer 'A' division league championship.

While the Josephians brought down the high riding Wesley College outfit by 12 points to five points at Longden Place the Peterites came out with an equally brilliant effort to down Royal College by 11 points to eight points in their fixture played at Bambalapitiya.

The Peterite success in this game was quite a significant one because they have triumphed over Royal College in an inter school match after a lapse of fifteen years. This would have certainly given St. Peter's College a great amount of satisfaction as they have really worked hard to lift their game from the beginning of the current season.

From a very poor start to the season the Peterites have moved from strength to strength after every outing and now they could look forward to the knock out tournament with great hope. The transformation and the turning point in their overall game took place probably in the match against the defending champions Kingswood College Kandy.

Until then they looked just an ordinary side and were also badly hit by injuries having gone down to Trinity College Kandy and S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia. But the Peterites had the talent and the potential with them and they just believed in themselves and the results they achieved from there onwards was quite amazing.

They took on the mighty Kingswoodians and almost turned the form book upside down with a performance which is still considered as their best this season. They never looked back from there onwards and the fact that they have moved into the third place in the final points table was due to some superb fast open rugby.

They were right at the bottom of the points table at the beginning of the season and they have really worked their way and done their home work to reach the present situation. The Peterites may now be feeling that if not for some injuries and indiscipline play at the start of the season they could have even made it to the top of the league points table.

There were a couple of occasions where they lost by close margins due to their own lethargic performances and the clash against the Wesleyites was a good example for this where they went down by a solitary try at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

St. Joseph's v Wesley

St. Joseph's College concluded the league stage of the tournament on a grand note as they defeated Wesley College 12-5 in their match played at Longden Place last week.

This was no doubt a tremendous morale booster for the Josephians ahead of the knock out championship which begins on September 23. They have been playing extremely well during their last few outings and were unfortunate to lose by a solitary point against Royal College.

But this time they made sure and got their act together beautifully to fashion a memorable victory while collecting their points from one goal and one try. The difference between the two teams was of course just a solitary try but the final result certainly made a huge impact for the Josephians.

They went into this game as the complete outsiders and were right at the bottom of the 'A' division league points table. In contrast the Wesleyites were among the top three teams having maintained a far superior track record this season. But the Josephians put all the statistics into shame with a marvellous performance which could be considered as one of the biggest upsets in the current inter school rugby season.

They of course knew that with or without a victory in their last league match they would have anyway been demoted into the 'B' division tournament from next year. This fact would have demoralised any other team but not the Josephians who seem to have preserved all their fire power for the last game of the tournament.

Ananda v S. Thomas'

Ananda College produced another giant killing performance to hold the strong S. Thomas' College outfit to an exciting ten all draw in their inter school match played at Havelock Park last week.

The Anandians could have even pulled off the game had they added the extra points for their second try which was scored just few minutes before the final whistle. Even then this was a fantastic performance from the Anandians who once again display their courage and determination to succeed despite performing under pressure.

This was no doubt a major setback for the Thomians who were hoping to conclude the league tournament on a winning note. They were the favourites before the match and were quite confident having lost just one game in the tournament. In contrast the Anandians went in as the underdogs hoping for an improved performance and having notched up just two victories in the league.

But they put up even a better display to stun the Thomians and certainly signalled a warning to the rest of the opponents ahead of the knock out tournament. They did extremely well to match the heavy Thomian pack and counter attacked beautifully with their speedy three quarters. In fact Ananda's forte this season have been their backline and they proved this to a great extent by running down two spectacular tries.

St. Anthony's v Trinity

St. Anthony's College became the first holders of the Dilip Kumar Trophy when they scored an emphatic 31 points to 19 points victory over their traditional rivals Trinity College in their annual fixture played at the Nittawela Stadium last week.

This game in fact turned out to be a one sided contest as the Antonians built up a massive 21-7 lead at the short whistle. Not only that this was also the highest score by the Antonians against Trinity College but certainly not the biggest margin of victories. This was also the seventh successive win for the Antonians against Trinity College since 1999.

This was certainly a morale shattering defeat for the Trinitians ahead of their all important Bradby Shield match against the traditional rivals Royal College next week. The match winner for the Antonians was their skipper and fly half Saheer Reyal who scored a try and converted himself and also fired two penalties and also executed a drop goal contributing all 16 points.

Isipatana v Zahira

Isipatana College powered their way to register an emphatic 30 points to nil victory over Zahira College in their encounter played at Havelock Park last week.

Isipatana put up a controlled performance against their inexperienced opponents and ran down four tries out of which two were converted in addition to a couple of penalties. This was also a good work out for Isipatana ahead of their Big Match against the traditional rivals Thurstan College.