Bee attack contributed towards our defeat – Trinity coach

By M Naushad Amit

The decision to scrap the Under-20 Inter-School Rugby tournament for the year 2009 and conduct the top segment matches on a friendly basis would have been a wrong call after all as was seen at the opening week of the ‘President Schools Rugby League 2009’ which got off to a thrilling start last weekend. If not for the President of the country who intervened in the trouble-ridden school rugby administration, to come to the assistance of the school rugby players, another great school rugby season would have come to nothing.
Making headlines in their first outing in Division 1 Segment ‘A’, St. Joseph’s turned tables to inflict a shocking defeat on Trinity at Pallekele last Saturday. After trailing 19-13 at halfway, St. Joseph’s bounced back to end the game 27-24 in a thrilling finish.
“We worked hard for this match from the latter part of last year. Initially our aim was to maintain a good standard in rugby. Since it was our first game in the top segment and since it was against Trinity, a school that has a rich tradition in rugby, we wanted to present a good performance,” said Dishantha Priyadharshana, the Josephian coach.

However adding excitement to their first outing in the major league, the Josephians were able to topple the might of Trinity in their own den. “We had a game plan and our boys made sure we executed it on the field. In the process Trinity made quite a few mistakes that gave us the opportunity to capitalise on them. Ultimately things worked out in our favour,” added a delighted Priyadharshana who was able to guide St. Joseph’s to their first-ever win against Trinity at 1st XV level in their rugby history. St. Joseph’s will meet the defending champions Kingswood this Sunday at Royal College Sports Complex.
Priyadharshana said his team will dish out the usual pattern of play. “Kingswood follows a fast and open pattern of playing while our boys are well armed to match up with them. We will attack Kingswood from the first whistle this coming weekend and will capitalise on their mistakes. The win in our first game of the season was a big boost and we will look forward to carry out that momentum,” he added.
Trinity coach, Anil Jayasinghe admitted the fact they were totally outplayed by the Josephians. “We missed a few vital scoring chances. They swung and moved very well throughout the game. Adding further woes we lost all 14 tackling situations to them. They simply grabbed our game,” said Jayasinghe.
The enthralling game however came to a short standstill when a swarm of bees invaded the Pallekele ground. Jayasinghe further said the bee attack was another reason for the game to slip away from them. “The game was halted for about 20 minutes while the game was at its peak in the first half. This caused a setback in our attacking play as it warmed down the highly in-form players.”
“Another reason for the Josephians to record a well deserved win was they implemented the new IRB rules, which are introduced to make the game fast. Other than that our players did perform up to expectations but they executed their plans accordingly,” Jayasinghe added. Trinity will take on St. Anthony’s on Saturday and Jayasinghe said this game will be a great opportunity to make a comeback. “We cannot underestimate the Anthonians as a weak opponent. We will make the maximum out of that match to gain back the momentum. What took place is history now. We will take the maximum of the opportunity to gain the lost momentum and go forward in the tournament with success learning from our mistakes,” Jayasinghe said.
STC-ISIPATHANA
Coming out of a bad patch, after losing to Royal a week earlier, S. Thomas’ prevailed to beat Isipathana in a thriller by 28-12 after trailing 3-12 at half-time at Havelock Park. Though S. Thomas’ had a clear 16 points lead at the end of the final whistle, they were taken ashore mainly by their place kicker, fullback Arjun Manoharan who managed to collect 13 points with his accurate kicking. As many experts noted S. Thomas’ were way behind Isipathana in speed but possessed very good stamina to last throughout the game. “I must admit that we didn’t play well in the first half. We had quite a few openings to score but the finish was not accurate. In contrast Isipathana made use of the opportunities to score. But we made a good comeback in the second half to score three tries and prevented our opponents from scoring a single point. No one can say that our back division is slow the way they played in the latter stages of the game. This win certainly has lifted the morale of the players and it will be helpful for the rest of the season,” Jeewan Gunathilleke, the Thomian coach said.
Isipathana who played marginally well in the first half could not succeed in the second half of the game. The coach of the side, Shamly Nawaz feels his side needs to recover before they take on St. Peter’s at Bambalapitiya on Saturday. “S. Thomas’ players were stronger in the latter stage of the game. They were hard to counter than in the first half. We made a few breaking moves but didn’t have the potential to turn them into points as S. Thomas’ were very strong in defence. We have to fine-tune a bit before our game against St. Peter’s. We have no injury worries and the boys are in good shape to make a comeback with a win,” said Nawaz.
ST. PETER’S - DHARMARAJA
St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, put up a terrific onslaught to trounce Dharmaraja by the huge margin of 61 points to nil in their match played at the Bogambara Stadium. The Rajans put up an unimpressive display and conceded a huge score to their opponents. The Peterites though coming up with some lively play with a well combined outfit lacked the services of a reliable place kicker which may turn out to be crucial in a close game. “First of all it seemed that Dharmaraja were really not ready to play the way they performed against us. Apart from the opening few minutes of the game they never offered us any threat. They created the entire environment in our favour and that gave us the opportunity to try out the entire squad which will be helpful for our future games,” said Sanath Martis the Peterite coach.
“We are trying out a few place kickers for the season. Of course we need to have a permanent place kicker. But the game against Dharmaraja was a good opportunity to test the skills of all the players including the newcomers,” added Martis whose team will lock horns with Isipathana this week. “As usual we will treat it as just another game but we are not ready to take any risks. We know their playing pattern and the boys will look forward to display their momentum gained from last week,” he added on their upcoming encounter.
ST ANTHONY’S - ROYAL
The Anthonians playing in their home terrain put up a pathetic display and their play appeared to be rambling. Adding to their woes was their poor ball collecting at crucial stages against Royal at Nittawela. After leading 22-3 at half time Royal drubbed St. Anthony’s by 39-6 at the final whistle. St. Anthony’s failed to make any impression at all apart from the first 25 minutes of the second half where they managed to stop their opponents from scoring. But the Royalists changed their strategy to pile on 17 more points in the last 15 minutes of play to romp home easy winners.
KINGSWOOD - MAHANAMA
Defending champions Kingswood kicked off their season in style when they beat Mahanama by a huge margin of 81-10 at Bogambara Stadium last Sunday. They easily had the opportunity of scoring over a century in the one-sided game but as Kingswood coach Nilufer Ibrahim said he opted to take the opportunity for another purpose. “It was a fitting game to test some of the newcomers in the side. We tried all players as such opportunities will not avail when the league progresses. But, as I judged, Mahanama played good rugby though they lacked exposure in the top segment. They can certainly surprise a few teams in the league,” said Ibrahim.
Kingswood will be playing against St. Joseph’s this Sunday in what could be a thriller with the outcome a total surprise. Ibrahim was optimistic that his team could remain on top end of the day. “We certainly cannot underestimate St. Joseph’s after their surprise win over Trinity. Our boys are in high spirits after last week’s performance. After all a win is a win and we will stick to our basics when we take on St. Joseph’s,” added the mastermind behind Kingswood’s rugby.