Gritty St. Peter’s down St. Joseph’s to win title
St. Peter’s College beat traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College by 14-7 to clinch Cup title of the Inter-School Milo Under-14, 10s Rugby Championship played at the Royal College Sports Complex on Sunday.
St. Peter’s posted two converted tries against a converted try of St. Joseph’s to emerge winners of the Cup final. The Peterites recorded a massive 33-5 win against Trinity College in the Cup semi-finals after beating Piliyandala Central by 36-7 in the Cup quarter-finals.
St. Joseph’s beat St. Anthony’s College by 24-12 in the Cup semi-finals after surviving a thrilling Cup quarter-final clash against D.S. Senanayake College by 17-14.
Zahira College won the Plate championship beating St. Anthony’s by 24-10 while Isipatana College won the Bowl championship after defeating Royal College by 19-0.
Lumbini College snatched the Shield championship, beating Ananda College 10-5 in the final.
After the first day’s play on Saturday, September 16, the teams to qualify to the quarter- finals of the Cup, Bowl and Shield categories of the tournament were found after the completion of the round robin matches. First round matches were played at the Royal Sports Complex in Reid Avenue and Zahira College ground in Maradana before the second day’s play of Knockouts were moved to Reid Avenue.
The surprise of the tournament was Piliyandala MMV who made it to last 16 of the Cup segment while fancied teams such as Royal, Isipathana and Kingswood colleges were down pushed to the Bowl segment.
Eventual winners St. Peter’s, runners-up St. Joseph’s, D.S. Senanayake, Science, St. Anthony’s Katugastota, Piliynadala Central, Trinity and Zahira were the teams that reached the Cup quarter-finals.
Royal Colombo, St. Benedict’s, Vidyartha, Wesley, Dharmaraja, Thurstan, Kingswood and Isipathana were drafted to the Bowl segment quarterfinals while for the Shield quarter-finals Ananda, Prince of Wales, Nalanda, Maliyadeva, Veluwana, Sri Sumangala, Lumbini and Mahanama Colombo qualified.
Eheliyagoda Central, Mahinda Galle, Lalith Athulathmudali MV, Panadura Royal, St. Sylvester’s, St. John’s and Moratu Vidyalaya failed to reach the second round. The two- day tournament conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association and sponsored by Nestle Lanka, had the participation of 32 teams, divided into eight groups of four teams in each.