Confront Thomians in the final:

Will Isipatana be third time lucky?

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Isipatana College will be hoping that they will be third time lucky when they confront S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia in the Milo Schools under 20 knock out rugby tournament final at the Royal College Sports Complex ground in Reid Avenue today.

Isipatana ended up as the runners up for two successive years in 2007 and 2008 and this time they are determined to lift the title in their third attempt. The lads from Havelock Park have maintained a fine record in the knock out tournament as they look to conclude the season on an impressive note.

Their opponents S. Thomas’ College are of course looking to win this knock out title for the first time having stormed into the final quite convincingly. This season the Thomians have performed extremely well and finished runners up in the President’s Trophy League.

This has been a tremendous achievement from the Thomians especially after their initial setback where they lost their very first game of the season on their home grounds. But since then they have been able to improve after every match and now they are well set to add the finishing touches to a highly successful season.

S. Thomas’ College will also take the field with a huge psychological advantage after having defeated Isipatana College by 28 points to 12 points in their League match earlier worked off at Havelock Park. This will also be their third appearance in the Milo knock out tournament final having lost to Kingswood College Kandy on both occasions.

Even then Isipatana will be quite confident that they could turn things around in their favour in this vital encounter following a series of good performances in their last couple of fixtures.

Isipatana who were placed fifth in the League tournament warmed up by defeating the giant killers Wesley College by 29 points to 5 points in the semifinal having earlier routed Dharmaraja College Kandy in the quarterfinals.

S. Thomas’ College of course made it to the final with a hard fought 36 points to 26 points victory over St. Anthony’s College Katugastota after having received a bye in the quarterfinals.

The key to S. Thomas’ success this season has been their solid defence where they have been able to withstand the pressure and counter attack during the last few minutes of the game. Isipatana in contrast enjoy a completely different game plan with their dynamic back division and this will be a real test for them especially against a more organized set of forwards.

S. Thomas: Amrith Anrado, Anjula de Silva, Roshenka Kodithuwakku, Janik Jayasuriya, Sandeep Jayawardene, Asela Kohana, Jeewaka Hewawitharana, Rajindra Gunasekere, Mohamed Rila and Shavin Kapuwatte (captain), Arjun Manoharan, William Rudra, Anurudhdha Wilwara, Praveen Perera, Jeromy Fernando. Isipatana: Dinuk Dananjaya, Danushka Sooriyarachchi, Thilina Lanka, Sajid Suhayb, S. Amaldeniya, Mohamed Hamza, Tharindu Lakshan, Tharindu Siriwardena, Mohamed Rizwan and Niroshana Fernando (captain), Prasad Devinda, Roshan Attanayake, Ashan Chaturanga, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Prasad Devinda.