CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Isipathana College became the first team to qualify for the Super Round segment after they recorded their fourth successive victory of the Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament.
The defending champions cruised to an emphatic 22-6 bonus-point victory over D. S. Senanayake College, which put them in front of the Group 1A points table with an impressive tally of 24 points after the fourth week of matches.
Isipathana also remained as the only unbeaten team in this group, and they have already built up a massive 13-point lead over their nearest rivals St. Joseph’s College, who have collected 11 points from their four outings.
However, three other teams – St. Anthony’s College, S. Thomas’ College and D. S. Senanayake College are also in contention for a place in the Super Round segment with all having collected 11 points each from three games.
Therefore, this week’s clash between St. Joseph’s and S. Thomas’ at Mount Lavinia will have a huge impact on the points table as both teams look to break the deadlock and boost their chances of securing a spot in the Super Round.
Wesley College and Kingswood College are out of the running without a win yet, even though the former have performed well to collect four bonus points from their four outings.
Meanwhile, two former league champions, Royal College and St. Peter’s College are set to make it to the Super Round segment from Group 2A following some impressive performances over the weekend.
Royal produced a splendid second half rally to overpower the newcomers to ‘A’ Division Rugby, Zahira College 44-3 on their home grounds to finish on top of their group with a total of 19 points from four matches.
Royal also secured their fourth bonus point of the tournament by running down six tries during a clinical performance and kept their try-line uncrossed for the second successive week.
In fact, the lads from Reid Avenue have so far conceded only two tries to their opponents this season and they have the best aggregate among all teams in the tournament having accumulated a total of 141 points.
In addition, Royal have really displayed their try scoring potential this season as they have crossed the whitewash on 21 occasions – the highest by any team, while Isipathana despite recording four back-to-back victories have scored only 17 tries.
Meanwhile, St. Peter’s are well set to grab the second Super Round spot from Group 2A after they cruised to an exciting 22-10 victory over Trinity College at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
The Peterites are currently placed second in the points table with 16 points from three back-to-back wins, but they certainly have the extra advantage of having played one game less than their nearest rivals.
With three more games left against relatively modest opponents – Zahira College, Science College and Vidyartha College – the lads from Bambalapitiya could go all the way and finish on top of their group with the maximum points.
However, Trinity College has been the biggest casualty in this group as they have only one win to boast against Vidyartha and are lying sixth in the points table with just six points.
