CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Two equally good teams, D. S. Senanayake College and S. Thomas’ College are set for a rousing battle when they face off in a decisive Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament fixture at Havelock Park on Friday. The kick-off is at 4.15 p.m.
Both teams are in real contention for an elusive spot in the Super Round segment of this 14-team tournament from Group 1A following some outstanding performances in the previous matches.
In fact, both teams have the identical playing record of three wins from their four outings, but D. S. Senanayake have a slight edge having obtained two bonus points while the Thomians have just a solitary bonus point to their credit.
Even then, the lads from Mount Lavinia are in tremendous form having defeated the last year league runners-up St. Joseph’s College 26-24 last week on their home grounds.
Before that, S. Thomas’ had the better of Wesley College (19-13) and Kingswood (28-17) and went down against the defending champions Isipathana College (20-29).
Meanwhile, this will be another fantastic opportunity for D. S. Senanayake to further underline their status as a major force in schools rugby having re-entered the ‘A’ Division segment after a lapse of a few years.
They have already produced some giant-killing performances where they defeated St. Anthony’s College (23-19), Wesley (29-20) and Kingswood College (31-27) before going down against the table leaders Isipathana (6-22).
The Thomians, of course will look to draw inspiration from last week’s game where they came from behind to snatch a sensational victory and to regain the Lady Jayathilaka Shield.
S. Thomas’ will certainly hope that their fly half and reliable place-kicker Yehan Bulathsinghalage could produce a repeat performance following his heroics last week where he landed four penalties and two conversions for a tally of 16 points.
In addition, the Thomians, with a heavy set of forwards, will have a slight edge and they will look for territorial advantage with some outstanding kicks to touch from Bulathsinghalage.
However, D. S. Senanayake too, have some talented players to match their formidable opponents and will be determined to make the maximum from this great opportunity.
They have the unique record of having produced three players with a hat-trick of tries this season in three separate games in addition to a host of other senior players, who have really worked hard to achieve their goals.
First, it was their speedy wing three quarter Janidu Wijeratne, who masterminded their stunning 23-19 win over St. Anthony’s by scoring three tries in their opening fixture of the tournament at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
Thereafter, Skipper Jayathu Rajarathna produced an inspiring performance with three magnificent tries to help his team record an upset 29-20 win over the favourites Wesley at the Royal Sports Complex in Colombo.
And last week, scrum half Manura Peiris produced a similar performance with three back-to-back tries as D. S. Senanayake edged out Kingswood 31-27 at Havelock Park.
