Confront Peterites at Bambalapitiya:

Trinity out to redeem lost prestige

Chris DHAMBARAGE

St. Peter’s College will be hoping to draw inspiration from last year’s fixture when they take on the formidable Trinity College team in their annual inter school under 20 league rugby tournament match at Bambalapitiya today.

The Peterites were able to pull off a memorable 15-10 victory on that occasion while performing away from home and despite going into the game with the odds heavily against them.

This time St. Peter’s are looking for a similar performance even though they are yet to make any significant impact in the current season. They of course had a good start to their campaign while overcoming Dharmaraja College Kandy by a convincing margin.

But since then the Peterites have failed to maintain the same momentum and suffered two defeats at the hands of Isipatana College and Royal College respectively. Trinity College too will take the field hoping to bounce back following a huge setback in their previous outing last week.

The Trinitians had to surrender the Canon R. S. de Saram Shield while going down to S. Thomas’ College 17-26 in a close encounter at Mount Lavinia. The last year’s league runners up are now hoping to regroup once again and pull off their second victory in the current season.

Trinity College of course had a shock start to the new season where they suffered a humiliating 24-27 defeat at the hands of St. Joseph’s College at the Pallekelle Stadium in Kandy. They proved that they had recovered to a certain extent by overcoming their home town rivals St. Anthony’s College 49-10 in the next outing.

This time the pressure will be more on the Trinitians as they look to redeem some of their lost prestige and to keep their hopes alive of winning the league title. The match will be of significance for two reasons for the visitors who will be determined to avenge their last year’s defeat.

The other reason is to make sure that they bounce back and probably avert another defeat away from home which would completely dash their hopes of winning the league title.

They have already suffered two defeats and just cannot afford to slip another game with the more important Bradby Shield first leg encounter against the traditional rivals Royal College coming up next week.

St. Peter’s College will be hoping that this is the opportunity that they have been waiting to salvage their pride and to add some more misery on their opponents. But they will need to really produce an improved performance and come out with a different game plan that will bring them the desired results at the end.

Royal-Mahanama clash

Meanwhile Royal College look set to pull off their fourth successive victory when they take on Mahanama College in their inter school under 20 league rugby tournament match at Longden Place today.

Royal have been able to maintain some high standards on the field this season where they have notched up impressive victories against S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, St. Anthony’s College, Kandy and St. Peter’s College respectively.

This time of course they are likely to rest some of their key players with the important Bradby Shield first leg encounter against the traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy coming up next week at the Bogambara Stadium.

Isipatana take on Rajans

Isipatana College could also look forward to a convincing victory when they meet Dharmaraja College Kandy in another inter-school under 20 league rugby tournament match at Havelock Park today.

Isipatana seem to have recovered magnificently following their early setback where they suffered a demoralizing defeat against S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia. But since then they have made steady progress and have been able to register back to back victories against St. Peter’s College and Mahanama College respectively.

With some tough assignments ahead of them in the league Isipatana will be keen to consolidate their position and to warm up with a big victory that will also boost their morale.