A title for Trinity College
Trinity College beat St. Joseph’s College by 22- 12 to clinch the Singer Under-18 Schools Sevens Rugby Championship which was played at the Racecourse ground in Colombo this week. Trinity led 12-5 at halftime and scored from four tries and a conversion while St. Joseph’s responded with two tries and a conversion to win the Cup title.
In the Cup semi-finals Trinity defeated D.S. Senanayake College by 22-5 while the Josephians overcame stiff challenge from Science College before emerging victorious by 22- 17. Prior to that Trinity beat Piliyandala Central by 33- 17 while the Josephians defeated Royal College by 12-5 in the Cup quarterfinals. In the remaining two quarterfinals Science thrashed Wesley College by 34- 5 as D. S. Senanayake smashed St. Anthony ’ s Colle ge Katugastota by 24-0 to reach the semis.
After losing their games in the Cup quarterfinals Wesley, Royal, St. Anthony’s and Piliyandala Central were slotted to play in the Plate semi-finals. After a close battle Royal edged Wesley by 21-19 to win the first semi- final while St. Anthony’s recorded a smashing victory against Piliyandala Central by 45-0 to gain momentum for the final. The Antonians then went on to defeat Royal by 22- 14 in the Plate final.
Vidyartha College emerged Bowl champions after defeating Lumbini College by 27-10 with a tally of five tries and a conversion. Vidyartha had the perfect preparation for the important final when they thrashed Zahira College by 57- 0 in the Bowl semi- final after scoring from nine tries and six conversions. Lumbini too recorded a smashing win of 42-14 against Nalanda College in the other semi-final to reach the final.
Richmond College Galle had a one-horse race victory against Eheliyagoda Central in the Shield final, with a margin of 26-0 from four tries and three conversions. Only four teams qualified for the quarterfinal stage of this category after Kingswood, Dharmaraja, Prince of Wales and Lalith Athulathmudali MV failed to turn up for the competition. As a result the bottom seed teams after group games -Richmond, Eheliyagoda Central, Mahanama and Royal Panadura reached the quarters and the winners of the two qualifiers played, directly played in the final. Richmond beat Mahanama by 24-14 in the first quarter- final while Eheliyagoda Central beat Royal Panadura in the third qualifier by 19-5.
The captain of the victorious Trinity College team, Warren Weerakoon was adjudged the Player of the Tournament. The tournament was played last Monday and Tuesday with group games on the first day at the Royal College Sports Complex and the knock-outs and finals on the second and final day at the Racecourse ground. The tournament was organised and conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association and was sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka. - NA; Pix AG