Sports

Best schoolboy rugby action this weekend

TCK-WCC; RC-IC battle for glory

This weekend will see some of the best schoolboy rugby dished out in the recent past with four absolute thrillers on the cards in the President’s Trophy Knockout Semi Finals. The first tussle will be battled out between the defending league champions and the runners-up tomorrow (28) whilst the Milroy Fernando Trophy rivals will face each other on Sunday (29).

28 March – Trinity-Wesley at Royal Complex

These two teams first met in the rugby field in 1956 and since then Trinity have dominated the series. One of the most memorable outings in the President’s Trophy came in 2013 when Wesley under Rahul de Silva thumped Halique Wadood’s Trinity in the grand finals. In 2014 Trinity under Tarinda Ratwatte took sweet revenge when they beat the Double Blues led by Joel Tillekeratne 45-07 in the quarter finals. Since then these two schools haven’t met in a knockout encounter. At last year’s league decider in Pallekele, the hosts Trinity scraped through 23-21. This year in the pre quarters Trinity beat Thurstan 38-08 and got the better of Zahira 32-23 in the quarters. Wesley had a massive 77-03 win against Mahanama and won 36-29 against St. Peter’s in the game of the tournament so far. This game will be a superb tactical battle to watch with Fazil Marija and Henry Terence’s ideals coming into play.

29 March – Royal-Isipathana at Longden Place

One of the most looked forward to rivalries in the schools rugby - the Royal-Pathana games have always been filled with excitement on and off the field. It definitely pulls bigger crowds than many other games. Last year too these two teams met in the semi finals and the Green Machine won which eventually led them to become champions beating Trinity in the final. Isipathana are the kings of knockout rugby which is clearly evident from their title count in the series, however Royal who have always been a league frontrunner can pull a rabbit out of the hat this time around. Royal’s last knockout title came in 2002 under Zulki Hamid’s record breaking side. They beat Wesley in the finals. This year’s Royal-Pathana will definitely be a game for the ages.

All matches will kick-off at 4.15 p.m.

Source - The Morning