The first round of matches of the Singer inter-school rugby championships took place last week between defending champions St Peter’s and Dharmaraja saw some eye catching results which opened the door for fierce battles for the rest of the season. Beside the game between St Peter’s and Dharmaraja there was one interesting encounter in Kandy and two in Colombo. The match in Kandy saw Kingswood turning the tables on Royal while in Colombo, Trinity outclassed Isipathana and S. Thomas’ overcame St Anthony’s Katugastota.
Last week in the Division 1B category Wesley beat Science and Thurstan got the better of Prince of Wales, while a determined Mahanama upset fancied St Sylvester’s and St Joseph’s defeated Ananda.
St Peter’s vs Dharmaraja
In this match the Petes played like professionals, leaving no room for Dharmaraja in the top division. In the very first minute the Petes meant business with centre Harsha Weerakkody giving the much needed start through a penalty try.
From there on it was a rain of tries with the Petes having their own way as winger Amila Fernando and centre Shenal Dias increased their lead with tries within two minutes.
This was followed with a penalty by Harsha and a try by wing three quarter Gerald Canute, definitely a player to make note of in the future. A penalty booted over by Harsha saw the Petes take a healthy 27-0 lead at the lemons.
In the second half the Petes showed that among the senior players they have players in the bench who could be replaced when a serious injury occurs midway in a game.
More salt was added to the wound of the Rajans when standby winger Rukshan Ferdinandez made a 60 metre dash to score under the post after senior players Amila and Harsha had posted two tries. The try scored by Rukshan ensured an easy 46-0 win for the Petes.
Kingswood vs Royal
What a match it turned out to be for the home team in Kandy. The Kingswoodians; schools league champs for three years from 2003 showed a glimpse of their fighting qualities. They turned the tables on Royal to record a well deserving 13-7 win.
Taking a slender 7-0 lead during the halfway stage they kept the Royalists at bay
Isipathana vs Trinity
The Havelock Park boys’ was at the receiving end of Trinity who outplayed them completely to notch up a 29-10 win. It was not the win that surprised many but the final score.
The losing margin was too much for the Pathana supporters to take up. Most probably it was the loss of their three top players that had affected the side but then, credit cannot be taken away from the Trinitians who combined and played as a well knit unit from the start.
The star of the game was no doubt Trinity No 8 Ruzni Ramzeen whose do or die attitude during the progress of the game gave the others much needed confidence. It was winger Vishwajit Wijesinghe who gave the Trinitians the solid start and later on went over for another try in the latter stages of the first half.
In between this Ramzeen barged his way through while Isipathana decreased the lead with the Lions taking a 15-7 lead. Fly half Abdul Fahad increased the Trinity lead. Isipathana only managed a penalty in this session while full back Kenon Armstrong sealed the game for the Kandy boys by adding a further seven points as they cruised through to victory.
S. Thomas’ vs
St. Anthony’s
This was another interesting match where the Thomians held on to a slender two point lead (7-5) to pull off victory by 14 points to 10 over the Antonians at Mt Lavinia. A goal and two tries in each half was how the scoring line ended. But the Antonians had to blame themselves for their lackluster approach to the game.
They threw away plenty of scoring opportunities while the Thomians on the other hand grasped their chances and succeeded in maintaining the lead to ensure their win.
But the two teams will have to do their homework properly for the forthcoming games which will be against tougher opponents. The Antonians have the knack of starting off with a defeat and then settle down as the season goes by. For the last two seasons the Antonians have done creditably well to finish among the top four.
Wesley vs Science
Smarting from their demotion from the top division last season the Wesleyites began their season on a winning note. They defeated Science Mt Lavinia 33-15 having led 14-10 at the breather.
The Wesleyites cannot be impressed with their performance as Science is lowly placed in the eighth position from the nine teams in this group. Their performance will be tested in the forthcoming matches and will know where they stand when they meet much tougher opposition.
St Joseph’s vs Ananda
St Joseph’s began their 2008 campaign in style when they overcame Ananda, the third team to be demoted from the top division. Having taken a 10-0 lead at the breather they ended the game with 15-3 win.
Though they finished sixth in the group they have the potential of moving further up if they put in a little more effort. Nevertheless it’s going to be interesting as the season got off with some surprise wins. The real atmosphere can be seen when the games have passed the halfway stage.
