Joes-Petes clash for Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga Memorial Shield

Thushan Jayasuriya

Traditional rivals St.Peter’s College and St.Joseph’s College will vie for honours when they meet each other in the annual inter-school Battle of the Saints rugby encounter at Longden Place today at 4.30 PM.

The Peterites under the Captaincy of Shan Weerakkody will start as the clear favourites and are hoping to retain the Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga Memorial Shield for the 14th successive year. Last year St.Peter’s College outclassed St.Joseph’s College by 36 points to 24 in the match played at Bambalapitiya.

St.Peter’s College will heavily rely on Udara Hettiarachchi, Shenal Abeysekara (Vice Captain), Johanne Rodrigo, Niraj Gunasinghe, Malith Makage, Anuradha Herath, Shehan de Silva, Dilanka Perera and Kevin Dickson this time. On the other hand St.Joseph’s College also fields a good side under the captaincy of last year’s deputy Jason Melder, who occupies as Lock Forward.Vice Captain Suchintha Udumalagala , who is playing as Number Eight is a major force to the lads from Darley Road.The others who can depend on for Josephians are StefFan Gregory, Thariq Saleh, Vishmitha Peiris and Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya.

This year also the odds will be heavily against St. Joseph’s College who has not defeated St. Peter’s College since 1999 in which year they also recorded their biggest victory in the series 27 - 3 under the captaincy of Lakshitha Gunaratne.

However, St. Joseph’s had the satisfaction of winning the Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga Shield in its inaugural year in 1968 under the leadership of Shiraz Fernando and forced a draw in 1969, 1980, 1992 and 2004. The biggest victory for Petes was in 2007 under scrumhalf Ranuka Jayasinghe who thrashed the Josephians with a record score of 101 to 05.

Although the Basil Wiratunga Shield was introduced in 1968 the Joe - Pete rugby encounter dates back to 1955 in which year rugby was introduced to the Darley Road School. The annual Joe-Pete rugby encounter dates back to year 1955.St.Peter’s College won the inaugural encounter in 1958.The maiden victory for St.Joseph’s in 1958 under the captaincy of C.I.Rajaratnam when they beat Peterites by 13 - 3 at Darley Road.The Josephians tasted three consecutive victories from 1960 to 1962 under Brian Paul, Cuthberd Charles and Hiranjan Perera respectively.

The teams

St.Joseph’s

Vimukshan Welivita, Sheran Johnson, Steffan Gregory, Jason Melder (Captain), Thulakshan Ramasamy, Thariq Saleh, Shehan Bopearachchi, Suchintha Udumalagala (Vice Captain), Ramesh Priyankara, Dulip Fernando, Akila Perera, Vishmitha Peiris, Hasuru Gunawardena, Janith Perera, Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya.

St.Peter’s

Udara Hettiarachchi, Shenal Abeysekara (Vice Captain), Johanne Rodrigo, Niraj Gunasinghe, Timothy Alles, Nishon Perera, Malith Makage, Anuradha Herath, Shehan de Silva, Shan Weerakkody (Captain),Dilanka Perera, Shallen Direkze, Akila Ranchegoda, Jerome Canute, Kevin Dickson.