Vidyartha nears 400 point mark

S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen -Kandy Sports Corr

Vidyartha College, Kandy may become the first school to top the 400 point mark this season when they take on Royal College, Panadura this weekend in Colombo.

They have scored 397 points so far this season while their opponents have scored 54 points against them with 36 of them by Mahanama College which turned out to be a very close battle with Vidyartha College sneaking through to a 37-36 win. But the rest of the matches were really cake walks for them scoring comfortable victories.

Their performance this season is as follows: beat D.S. Senanayake College 44-7, beat C.W.W. Kannangara Vidyalaya 63-0, beat Zahira College, Colombo 51-0, beat Mahanama College 37-36, beat St. Anne's College 136-0, beat St. Sylvester's College 66-11.

During the past three years Vidyartha College did not enjoy much success due to no fault of theirs. Every year some of their talented players opted to play for other leading schools in Kandy and Colombo. In 2008 six of their ruggerites joined other schools which put their then rugby coach Mohamed Faizal in a fix at the start of the season itself. But the old Vidyarthians Rugby Club which is the rugby wing of the school took serious note of this situation and took steps to arrest it and bring back rugby at Vidyartha to its pristine glory.

As a first step they brought old boy Anil Jayasinghe to handle the overall coaching of the side. Anil Jayasinghe is a former captain of Kandy Sports Club and national poolist. He is not only one of the top rugby coaches in the island but also a leading rugby referee with international exposure.

They hit upon a long-term plan. First they started a Rugby Academy where the ruggerites are put through their paces throughout the year and they are also provided with supplementary food. A large number of old boys are seen at matches encouraging the ruggerites.