Going into the final week's rugby, St. Anthony’s, Dharmaraja, Trinity, KIngswood, Vidyartha, St Sylvester’s, Sri Rahula, Sri Sumangala (St. Paul's) have played their last games in the second round. Trinity College had high hopes of winning the Cup competition, but they threw it away failing to win the deciding game which was also the first leg of the Bradby Shield against Royal. Both St. Anthony’s and Dharmaraja had hopes to win the Plate championship. St. Anthony's College gave a good display to beat Science College and Dharmarajah College beat Prince of Wales, both schools are with equal points but St. Anthony’s are with more tries and have pocketed the Plate. Much was expected from Vidyartha but they went down to Lumbini College. Sri Sumangala playing in the Shield beat Eheliyagoda National School, Sri Rahula beat Bandaranayake MV from Gampaha in a Division II Cup competition match and St. Sylvester's beat Mahanama College in a Bowl trophy game so, the schools League curtain draws to a close and now it’s time for the knockouts.
St. Anthony’s gave a sterling performance on Sunday to drub Science 43-17 and this win helped them to bring the Plate title to Katugastota. The knowledgeable Antonian forwards used their weight and height to win a major share of the ball from the rucks and mauls. With good ball coming their way they indulged in too many tactics to beat the Science defence. It was a treat to see the Antonians forwards and three quarters ball handling.
Trinity – The first leg of the 73rd Bradby Shield that also climaxed to become the deciding fixture of the Schools rugby league title saw royal securing a hard fought victory over Trinity in Kandy. This win for Royal will be a historic achievement as this encounter also got them the most important league title by outplaying Trinity 22-17. Royal were presented the Cup as the 2017 champion team.
Trinity’s defeat was due to poor tackling, losing most of the rucks and mauls, scrums and line outs. Although they started with a bang in the first 10 minutes they gradually faded away with pressure from the Royalist. This attributed to ineffective leadership and the captain playing in the wrong position and failing to lead from upfront. The three quarters failed to perform to expectation and allowed their opposite numbers to run through them. The halves combination clicked well except under pressure, fly half Lashan Wijesuriya had an excellent game gaining ground with his calculated kicks to touch. Lashan also scored a brilliant try running 25 meters and taking three defenders with him before scoring the try which he converted. There is a general perception among many rugby fans that losing is not a big setback, but most fans like to witness a good game. Last Saturday's game was very clean with no fisticuffs, no yellow cards, no warnings by the referee etc. A very good rugby game was witnessed by a huge crowd from both schools, the only hassle was the traffic, car parking was the issue and even after 8.30 pm most of the spectators were waiting for their turn to take their respective cars out from the park. Fans are hoping to see some trademark Trinity flair in the 2nd leg of the Bradby Shield clash in Colombo on the 3 June.
Dharmaraja were aiming for the Plate championship, if they had more tries they had the chance, in the last game where they beat Prince of Wales. They needed to score 15 tries. Although Rajan's dominated play against Prince of Wales they scored only 66 points against 5.
It was a treat see the Rajans three-quarters running the ball whenever they were in possession.What made the Rajans click is their dedication to the game and the desire to win which they did and led 47-5 at half time. The second half saw the Rajans forwards keeping the ball with them and fashioning the moves.
Kingswood who was relegated last season from the top division has gone back to the division they were in. In their last game they beat D.S. Senanayake at Welisara by 17 points to 12. Thanks to the good work of their prop forward whose try helped them to win this game.
From the first whistle both sides ran the ball with their three-quarters and the exchanges were even. At half time D.S led 7-5. The second half turned out to be a tense one where the two sides were engaged in a life and death struggle to score points. A try from Chandraratne helped the Kingswoodians win.
St. Sylvester’s beat Mahanama by 20 points to 14. The winners showed a lot of promise maintaining their high stakes.
Exchanges were even and at the start Sylvestrians looked very dangerous, but as the game progressed Mahanama players settled down to some heady rugby and began exploiting the home team’s mistakes. St. Sylvester’s is a school with limited facilities and they play matches without proper practices.
Sri Sumangala played a good game of rugby to beat Eheliyagoda National School 63-0 at the Campus grounds Peradeniya. Sri Sumangala started the game with a bang and went into scoring a few minutes from the first whistle. The winners led 33-0 at half time. The match commenced at 2 pm due to ground having to be handed over to the authorities by 4.
Sri Rahula playing in Division II Cup competition beat Bandaranayake MV from Gampaha in their Division II Cup competition match which was played at the Peradeniya Campus grounds at 2.30 p.m. Sri Rahula played a good game, and their rugby has really improved. On Tuesday they lost to Vidyaloka Galle 39-0 at Koggolla.
Vidyartha played their last game on Wednesday with Lumbini at Thurstan College grounds. The match began with exchanges even and Lumbini looked very dangerous, but as the game progressed Vidyartha settled down to play some heady rugby and began exploiting the opposition’s mistakes and won by 36 points to 25.
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