Isipatana-Trinity clash should be a thriller

RUGBY: The eagerly awaited confrontation between the unbeaten Isipatana College and the formidable Trinity College, Kandy in their schools division one group 'B' match at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy today should turn out to be a thriller.

The Isipatanians are in a buoyant mood after their smashing 22-7 win over Royal last week while the Trinitians are also going great guns winning six matches in a row after losing to Kingswood (10-18) in the curtain raiser of the schools rugby season. A fascinating game of rugby is expected in this Silver Jubilee match between these two top rugby playing schools.

Isipatana led by centre Ashan de Costa remain unbeaten by beating St. Anthony's (22-8), Science College (69-0), St. Joseph's (22-3), Vidyartha (43-0), Dharmaraja (29-0) and Royal (22-7) while the Trinitians led by Imalka Maddumapatabendi have overcome, St. Thomas (12-0), St. Anthony's (24-13), Vidyartha (34-3), Science (112-3), Dharmaraja (36-0), St. Joseph's (38-20) after they went down to Kingswood (10-18).

It was Isipatana's three quarters who fashioned their victory over Royal with a dazzling display and are expected to give a repeat performance. The halves combination of Gayan and Niroshan hit it off smoothly while the two centres Ashan de Costa and Damith Udayanga are hard and penetrative runners who should breach the Trinity defence in addition to an attacking full back in Reza Mubarak who had an excellent game against Royal.

The Trinitians too boast of a fine set of three quarters. In Niranjan Manikkam and Kenneth Jacobs they have a fine halves combination while centres Kosala Tissera and Deen have pierced the opponents defence time and again with their sizzling runs but the biggest threat to the Isipatanians will be posed by Trinity's wingers S.B. 'Bula' Seneviratne and Sanjaya Senarath who have stood out with their power-packed runs down the flanks.

The Trinity - Isipatana rugby match become an annual fixture in 1981 with the Trinitians led by Ravi Bandaranayake winning the inaugural match by 6 points to 3 at Nittawela. In the following year Isipatana captained by Dilroy Fernando triumphed by 7 points to 3 at Longden Place.

In 1983 Ashan Ratwatte's Trinitians edged out Isipatana by 6-3 at Nittawala while in the following year Isipatana led by Shabeen Siddik scored a hard fought 8-6 win at Havelock Park. In 1985 Trinity under the leadership of Manoj Jayatissa scored a smashing 17-0 win at Bogambara while in the following year Selvin Sallay's Isipatanians triumphed by 11 points to 6 at Longden Place.

This trend continued with Isipatana winning in Colombo and Trinity emerging victorious in Kandy till 1996 when Isipatana broke the 'Kandy hoodoo' with a 20-13 win at Bogambara while Trinity ended their drought of wins in Colombo with a stunning 6-3 win at the Sugathadasa Stadium in 2001.

So far 24 matches have been played in the series with Isipatana winning 13 games and Trinity eight with three drawn matches - 4-all (1990), 13-all (1992) and 5-all (1993). (R.S.)