Royal Under-16 sweeps through to win league rugby crown
The Royal Under-16 ruggerites continued with their winning streak during the knockout stage of the All-Island Schools Rugby Sectors ‘ blended’ tournament conducted by the Sri Lanka School Rugby Football Association, after they completed the league sector by winning all games. This follows the winning run of this same combination in the last year’s Under-14 Knockout Tournament in Kandy.
In a scrappy semi-final, St. Anthony’s College Katugastota fought all the way, gaining equal possession of the ball. In the 2nd half, playmaker and fly half Lennox Calyanaratne wriggled his way through to score the winning try, for Royal’s hard fought 5-0 win. Referee – Priya Suranga. In the finals against traditional rivals Trinity College, Royal obtained greater share of the ball. Their forwards executed the rolling scrummaging and rolling maul to near perfection gaining inroads into the opposition territory from defensive positions. Trinity countered in the first half with their hard running back division but the Royal defence tackled resolutely to break the moves close to the touchline.
Royal dominated the 2nd half with a wave of successful moves with forwards linking up with the three quarters to hold the ball inside the opponents ‘22’ looking for a break.
The sobbing black coat
We always have a lot of respect for the black coated gentry. The incident which we are going to highlight this week is about such a gentleman and it took place in Rob Roy country. There was a reception after one of the day’s events at the great sports show and Sri Lanka’s Big Man in sports was heard telling a few journalists, jokingly, about the black coated man who has been giving him advice over the years. “If not for him, I would have avoided a lot of problems. He produces a lot of bills and he is a big headache for me.” Hurt by these words the black coated man was visibly hurt and started sobbing and he sobbed his heart out. The sobbing did not end there. Whenever the black coated man met the Big Man in that country, he started crying and this caused a lot of problems to him.
By the Cherry Blossom tree
All focus is on the Asian Veterans Athletic Meet to be held in Japan next month. But there is another side to the story. Officials are afraid that there is a possibility that some athletes may ‘jump’ and decided to stay in the land of Cherry Blossoms. So the officials now want to make the age group for this meet strictly between 40 to 75 years leaving out the 35 to 40 age group as they are of the opinion that this particular age group are the most likely to ‘jump’, as the popular saying goes.
Harsh words exchanged
Harsh words, filthy one at that, were hurled at a certain vice pres-
The opportunity came when the defence opened up for a moment and Royal scored through 2nd inside Ifham Fareed who completed the move to score under the post while Maleesha Madumewan added the extra points to give Royal a well-deserved 7-0 win and the ident at a meeting of athletic officials. One coach had even gone to the extent of sending a petition to the Big Man regarding this official’s behaviour. And so the words flew slaying each other. Newcomers were aghast that this type of happening could take place in a key meeting of this nature.
Conduct unbecoming
The normal pattern is to select a pole position before a motor car race before the race. The pole position was found but on the day of the race another driver forced his way to the pole position and won the event with ease. The man who actually won the pole position the previous day ended last! When questioned about this unfair treatment, officials said that they are unable to give their views as they will not be in a position to even conduct the event.
Bending the rules
All eyes were on a rugby tournament and the first leg of it was won by a team which had five foreigners. The rules state that only three foreigners can be accommodated in a team but this particular team had five! When an official was questioned about this he said that two of the foreigners are actually citizens as they hold permanent visas to this
country. championship. The game was refereed by Pradeep Fernando.
Action next moves to Bogambara on August 22 and 23, as the knockout sector of the All-Island Schools Rugby Tournament is scheduled as the finale to an exciting Under-16 rugby season. The schools association must be congratulated for providing budding young players will-be stars of the future adequate opportunities to horn their skills.
Royal Under-16 team: Nikhil de Silva (Captain) Sabith Feroze (V. Captain), Nuwan Jayawardane, Anujaya Ranawake, Banuja Samaranayake, Lahin Attigalle, Sasitha Siyath, Samadhi Induwara, Maleesha Madumewan, Ibrahim Barrie, Lennox Calyanaratne, Dulan Gunawardane, Thulaib Hassen, Ifam Farried, Deshan Perera, Thejan Wijesundara, Pavidara Nanayakara, Sulaiman Mohomed, Shimalka Mendis, Samal Agalawatte, Kalana Thilakaratne, Yasis Rashmika, Mubeen Faleed, Sanjula Seneviratne, Induwara Bimsara. Coaches: Asanga Rodrigo and Alfred Hensman.