Royal face tough task against Peterites

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The Singer under 20 division one league tournament will reach its climax when two unbeaten teams St. Peter’s College and Royal College clash in a high profile inter school rugby encounter at the Royal Sports Complex in Reid Avenue today.

The Peterites are certainly enjoying a magnificent season and are currently on top of the points table with four splendid victories to their credit.

In fact they launched their campaign with a hard fought 27-8 victory over Isipatana College and then followed up with a morale boosting 31-10 win over Trinity College at the Pallekelle Stadium in Kandy.

In addition they cruised to a record breaking 164 points to nil triumph over newcomers Prince of Wales College Moratuwa and last week they had the better of Dharmaraja College Kandy 58 nil.

In contrast the reigning champions Royal somewhat struggled to beat a fighting St. Anthony’s outfit 35-18 in their previous outing on their home grounds.

On that occasion Royal were completely rattled in the first half where they trailed 5-15 before they staged a good comeback to register a hard fought win at the end.

Earlier Royal had started the season in style with three rousing victories against Prince of Wales College Moratuwa (35-6), Wesley College (12 nil) and Dharmaraja College (27-5) respectively.

This time of course they will be severely tested by the inform Peterite set of forwards comprising of Steve Nelson, Soyuru Anthony, Asitha Ratnayake, Shenal Dias and skipper Keith Gurusinghe. But they will miss the services of regular hooker Kalana Mendis and will be replaced by Isuru Alwis.

Royal will be hoping for an improved performance from their forwards Yudith Karunaratne, Iroshan de Alwis, Aadil Jabbar, Lahiru Pavithra and Shehan Pathirana.

In addition Royal’s three quarters failed to impress in their previous match against St. Anthony’s with poor ball handling and will have to produce a much better display if they hope to keep their unbeaten record intact.

Royal’s major concern is the lack of a reliable place kicker with fly half Arshad Jamaldeen giving a pathetic display of kicking in all the matches. St. Peter’s College last beat Royal in 2007 where they triumphed by a convincing margin on their home grounds at Bambalapitiya under the captaincy of Ranuka Jayasinghe.