ROYAL CROWNED KINGS OF SCHOOLS RUGBY
Singer U20 Schools Rugby Review
The curtains of the Singer U20 inter-schools rugby league tournament came down over the weekend which was the deciding week of who will be crowned the league champions which was left for traditional rivals Royal and Trinity to battle it out at the Lion’s den in Pallekele and it was Royal who brushed aside heavy odds as they tamed the Lions in their own den to emerge Kings of Schools Rugby for the year 2017.
In fact for the most part of the season, it was a battle between four contenders viz Trinity, defending champions Isipathana, Royal and Wesley, but in the third week it boiled down to two teams and of course Trinity would no doubt be disappointed as they were the top team even though they had their unbeaten tag tarnished by St Peter’s and in the decider the two teams came into the game having lost a match each. In addition, this was also the first leg of the 73rd Bradby Shield and Royal has gone one up but they cannot sit on this laurel as they have a lead of only five points after the 22-17 win at Pallekele last week.
However even though the Trinitians took the top slot in the points table till this game was played and Royal fluctuating in the third and fourth positions, the latter stages of the league tournament saw the Royalists opened up by winning all their second round matches to come into the second spot.
TRINITY VS ROYAL
Looking back at the performances of the two teams in the deciding game even though it was a hard fought win for Royal, they played with a plan and executed it accordingly while the Trinitians were nowhere near their performance during the early stages of the tournament.
The first session of play was closely contested with Trinity drawing first blood with Rashen Bandaranayake going over for an unconverted try but that was short-lived as Royal struck back to take the lead through a try by Himantha Hirushan and Shakir Nawfer who booted over a penalty for them, adding the extra points to lead 10-5 at the breather.
The second half was no doubt going to be a thriller and again it was Trinity who made the first scoring with Lashen Wijesuriya going over for a try and with he himself making the conversion the Lions took over the lead 12-10. Royal undeterred went into the attack and gave the home side some anxious moments as they surged ahead through their playmaker and No 8 Hamza Reeza who is also the highest try scorer of the league tournament as he went over for back to back tries and even though Shakir Nawfer was able to convert only one the Royalists went into a commanding 22-12 lead.
ISIPATHANA VS WESLEY
This turned out to be a one sided affair as Isipathana walked away with a comfortable 28-0 win which assured them the second spot pushing Trinity to the third slot. Isipathana with this win ended with 4.60 points while Trinity secured 4.56 and Wesley took the fourth spot with 4.00 points.
Wesley even though they underwent a defeat could be satisfied with their performance this season as after the beating they got from Trinity they came back with a vengeance to record four wins on the trot in the first round matches.
Isipathana on the other hand was a bit shaky and was not consistent as they had to work hard for their wins with one example being against Dharmaraja where they were taken to the wire before coming out victorious and they too would no doubt be happy with the conclusion of their campaign.
ST. JOSEPH’S VS ZAHIRA
The outcome of this match was known before it began and the Josephians proved to be too good for the Zahirians whom they demolished 38-14 which saw them ending their campaign with six wins and ended up in the fifth spot.
ST. PETER’S VS S. THOMAS’
St Peter’s were expected to pull off the game but the gritty S. Thomas’ side fought tooth and nail to deny the home team a victory as they fought back to make it quits and the match ending in a draw with the scoreboard reading 25 a piece.
The win saw the Peterites taking the sixth slot and no doubt the Thomians who ended seventh would be disappointed as they were able chalk up only three wins while wooden spoonist Zahira who had a miserable second round in contrast to the successful first round campaign.
ST. ANTHONY’S VS SCIENCE COLLEGE
Meanwhile St Anthony’s Katugastota walked away with the Plate Championship Trophy when they outclassed Science College 43 points to 17 in their last match played over the weekend and this outcome will no doubt be disappointing for Science as they will be demoted to the second division next season. In fact the battle in the early stages were between three teams in the hill capital St Anthony’s, Dharmaraja and Kingswood and even though the first two named ended with four wins each with identical 4.60 the Antonians came out as the top team with their better performance.