CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – The defending knock-out champions Isipathana College will come out for the first time when they take on Zahira College in the first semi-final of the President’s Trophy Inter-Schools Under-19 Rugby Tournament on Saturday at Havelock Park. The kick-off is at 4.15 p.m.
Isipathana received a bye into the semi-finals and they will be hoping to retain the Trophy for the second successive year having defeated St. Joseph’s 49-22 in last year’s final played at the Royal Sports Complex in Colombo.
Zahira, of course, will be brimming with confidence and will be determined to produce another giant-killing performance following their stunning 15-13 triumph over the fancied D. S. Senanayake outfit in the quarter-finals last week.
The Zahirians were quite impressive during the league tournament as well as they made their re-entry into ‘A’ Division rugby this year in style by notching up four victories against Dharmaraja (18-15), Science College (24-8), Vidyartha (23-3) and Trinity College respectively.
Meanwhile, Isipathana have a point to prove and they will be determined to bounce back having surrendered the coveted ‘A’ Division league championship to St. Peter’s two weeks ago.
They eventually settled for third place in the league tournament final standings but they will be keen to maintain their impressive record in the knock-out tournament having emerged champions on 11 previous occasions.
President’s Trophy past winners:
1985 (Isipathana), 1986 (Isipathana), 1987 (Trinity), 1988 (Royal), 1989 (S. Thomas’), 1990 (S. Thomas’), 1991 (S. Thomas’), 1992 (Isipathana), 1993 (Trinity), 1994 (S. Thomas’), 1995 (St. Peter’s), 1996 (Isipathana), 1997 (Isipathana), 1998 (Thurstan), 1999 (Isipathana), 2000 (Kingswood), 2001 (Isipathana), 2002 (Royal), 2003 (Kingswood), 2004 (Kingswood), 2005 (Kingswood), 2006 (St. Peter’s), 2007 (St. Peter’s), 2008 (St. Peter’s), 2009 (S. Thomas’), 2010 (Royal/St. Peter’s), 2011 (Trinity), 2012 (Isipathana), 2013 (Wesley), 2014 (Isipathana), 2015 (Science College), 2016 (Isipathana), 2017 (St. Josephs’), 2018 (St. Peter’s), 2019 (St. Peter’s), 2020/2021 (No tournament), 2022 (Isipathana).
