Josephian -Peterite clash in President’s Trophy K/O semis
A rousing game is on the cards when the traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College clash in the President’s Trophy Inter-Schools Under-19 Knock-Out Rugby Tournament semi-final encounter at Havelock Park on Sunday. The kick-off is at 4.15 p.m.
This match will also be of great significance for both teams as they will be vying for the prestigious Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga Shield after a lapse of four years.
The two teams last played in the 2019 season, where the Peterites edged out the Josephians 23-21 at Bambalapitiya to regain the Shield after a lapse of four years with an injury time penalty from Thenuka Nanayakkara.
This time, unbeaten St. Peter’s will start favourites and they are looking to complete a grand double having already clinched the 2023 ‘A’ Division League Championship after a lapse of 13 years.
The Peterites are currently on an eight-match winning streak this season as they had the better of Trinity College 25-13 in the fourth quarter-final played at Havelock Park, last week.
In contrast, St. Joseph’s missed out the chance of playing in the Super Round Segment of the league tournament but have bounced back magnificently by overcoming St. Anthony’s College 57-0 in the third quarter-final played at Havelock Park, last week.
The Joes were able to avenge their previous defeat in the league tournament at the hands of the Antonians by running down nine tries during their best performance for the current season. However, St. Peter’s have looked well organised in their game plan throughout this season, and they have the ingredients to become a champion outfit for the second time this year.
Their biggest challenge will be to counter the marauding St. Joseph’s forwards, with Skipper and dynamic number eight Naveen Marasinghe set to make another impact following his heroics last week.
It will be interesting whether the Peterites would opt to attack with their set of forwards, or they would try and recycle the ball through their speedy back division, which has plenty of firepower to penetrate any defence.
They proved it in the league tournament with a consistent performance and they started the knock-out tournament on a positive note by running down four tries in the quarter-final fixture against Trinity.
Isipathana v Zahira
Meanwhile 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 Tournament on Saturday at Havelock Park. 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.
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