Will Isipatana get off to a flying start ?

Chris Dhambarage

Isipatana College will face an acid test when they take on their arch rivals Trinity College Kandy in a key Singer inter school Under 20 Group 'A' league tournament match at Longden Place today. Kick off is at 4.45 p.m after the under 12, 14 and 16 matches.

Isipatana of course will start as the favourites following their impressive record in the current inter school rugby season. They have already clinched two major titles the Western Province sevens as well as the Singer under 20 all island seven a side tournament in consecutive weekends.

In contrast Trinity is fielding a fresher laden side with their captain and second row forward Milinda Gunawardena as the only coloursman of the team.

Their build up for this crucial game has been quite impressive where they triumphed by a massive margin of 142 points to nil against Dharmaloka Kelaniya on their home grounds at the Pallekele Stadium and 60 points to nil against their home town rivals St. Sylvester's College at the same venue.

Before that the Trinitians overcame their oldboys team by 40 points to five points in a friendly game played at Maitland Crescent. Even then the pressure will be on the Trinitians because this is their first tournament fixture for this season.

In addition the odds will be against the visitors considering the fact that their previous win against Isipatana was in 2006 where they triumphed by 17 points to 13 points under the captaincy of Imalka Maddumapatabendi.

Isipatana of course will be hoping for a repeat performance having won last year's match by a convincing margin of 18 points to 10 points under the captaincy of Damith Udayanga.

The teams:

Isipatana: Dimitra Wijetunga, Thilina Lanka, Danushka Suriyarachchi, Madushan Abeykoon, Anushka Fernando, Uthpala Senaratne, Tharindu Siriwardena, Dinusha Dananjaya, Srinath Suriyabandara and Nilushan Fernando, Vishmithra Jayasinghe, Deshan Subashanarachchige, Dinusha Chaturanga (captain), Ashan Gallage, Prasad Devinda.

Trinity: M. Riyazvi, Damith Dissanayake, Wishwa Sinhalakshana, Milinda Gunawardena, Rishan Vidanagamage, Pulasthi Gamage, Indris Omar, Rushmi Ramzin, Adeep Hamid and Abdul Fahard, Wishwajit Wijesinghe, Harindra Buwanawara, Shenon Armstrong, Kennon Armstrong, Suren Alwis.

Referee: D. Nimal