St. Joseph’s College Maradana will be at full strength and raring to go when they take on St.Anthony’s College Kandy in their Singer ‘A’ Division Inter-Schools league rugby first round encounter at Havelock Park at 4:15pm today.
Led by speedy centre Sameesha Veranga the Joes got some good players who could be match winners for the Maradana outfit.
Players such as centre cum play maker Gamunu Chethiya, wingers Dulanjana Piyatissa (Sri Lanka national under 19 and former Dharmaraja College Kandy rugby player) , K.D. Kavinda, fly half Santhush Algama, number eight Tharindu de Alwis, flankers Shehan Kelaniyagoda and John Ganegoda along with prop forward Shevon Gregory, Nimesh Kavinda, full back Shan Akila and scrum half Rashen Gunawardena should be marked well by the Antonian lads if not they will be in deep trouble.
The Joes, one of the strongest contenders for the Singer rugby league this year, will be out for their third win against St.Anthony’s. The Joes are coached by former junior Sri Lanka coach and Sri Lanka national sevens coach in Nilfer Ibrahim (head coach) who is assisted by forward coach Anuranga Walpola and kicking coach Dev Anand. They should have things their own way in this encounter.
The Maradana school beat S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia convincingly (33-10) and ran out worthy winners last week against the formidable Trinity College Kandy by 32-25 in a tense battle up in Pallekelle. Also fly half Algama’s kicking boot will play a major role in this game.
Meanwhile Antonian’s the “dark horse” of the Singer League, who are slowly but steadily getting into peak form after close 11-15 loss to arch rival Trinity College suffered an unexpected heavy loss to Royal College last week by 13 points to 55 after trailing 13-15 at half time at Nittawela. Hence they will be out for their first win this season to keep their chances alive to move forward in the round two Cup segment.
They will be heavily dependent on their skipper and prop forward Kavinda Amarakoon, number eight Mohamad Shabeer, fly half Mohamad Makarim, cracking flanker Isuru Ariyapala, second row forward Jithen Daulagala, scrum half Suhail Waseem, centre Theeksha Gunasinghe and full back Janindu Himsara (this year’s St.Anthony’s 1st XI cricket captain).
This year they are coached by their 1986, 1st XV rugby captain Sanjaya Amunugama.
This encounter should be a close tussle for supremacy with St. Joseph’s holding a clear edge with two consecutive wins this season, while the St.Anthony’s have yet to win a game in the ongoing schools league.
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