Royal end Schools Rugby season in great style

Royal College have ended the 2023 Inter-Schools Under-19 rugby season in a spectacular manner. Last week, at Mount Lavinia, they powered their way to an emphatic 26-6 victory over the traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College in their 60th annual encounter.

Royal also further extended their dominance over their opponents in this series and went on to retain the Michael Gunaratne Memorial Trophy for the fifth successive year.

The current ‘A’ Division League Tournament runners-up added another silverware to their cupboard this season having earlier clinched the coveted Bradby Shield over Trinity College and the Major Milroy Fernando Memorial Trophy against Isipathana College.

This was another masterclass performance from the hard-working Royal forwards as they ruck and maul to near perfection to score four splendid tries while completely outplaying their opponents.

Action from the match between Royal and S. Thomas’

Overall, the lads from Reid Avenue had a memorable season as they recorded six wins out of their eight matches in the league tournament including two back-to-back wins in the Super Round segment.

The other significant feature in Royal’s performance this season was that they conceded only seven tries to the opposition during the entire season as their methodical defensive structure proved to be the backbone of their success.

And quite fittingly, their robust number eight and Skipper Randul Senanayake was in the limelight for the last time in his illustrious schools rugby career finishing with a hat-trick of tries.

Senanayake has been a tower of strength for his team and has done the bulk of the hard work while turning out to be an excellent ball carrier, line-out jumper and a tough customer in defending his goal line.

Senanayake scored the first of his three tries shortly before half time and followed up with back-to-back tries after the break to set the stage for another comfortable victory as Nabil Yehiya gave another fine performance with three conversions.

St. Peter’s v Trinity

St. Peter’s College were too strong for Trinity College as the newly crowned ‘A’ Division league champions powered their way to a smashing 25-13 victory in the President’s Trophy Knock-Out Rugby Tournament quarter-final encounter played at Havelock Park.

At one stage it looked like the match was heading for an exciting finish as the Trinitians set about their goal of avenging their earlier defeat in the league tournament by going into half time trailing by just two points (6-8).

However, during 10-minutes of sheer brilliance after the interval, St. Peter’s completely turned the complexion of the game by smashing the Trinity defence on three occasions to set the stage for an easy victory.

The Peterites continued from where they left last week and played like a true champion outfit as they completely rattled the Trinitians with power and speed to finish with four tries to their tally.

Fly half Windya de Mel was outstanding with his accurate touch finders even from his own territory while full back Kushan Tharindu was a thorn in the flesh for the Trinitians with his smart and intelligent work in both attack and defence.

Zahira v D. S. Senanayake

Action from the match between St. Peter’s and Trinity
(Pix by Sulochana Gamage and Wasitha Patabendige)

Zahira College were finally rewarded for their continuous perseverance and hard work as they knocked out the favourites D. S. Senanayake College 15-13 in the President’s Trophy Knock-Out Rugby Tournament quarter-final match played at Havelock Park.

This was easily the best performance from the Zahirians, since they were promoted to the ‘A’ Division Tournament this year, as they turned the game in their favour with a last-minute penalty.

In fact, they were trailing 7-13 going into the last 10 minutes of the game and they held their nerve to score the match-winning try through full back Ahmed Saad, who put the icing on the cake by firing across a 25-metre penalty.

Zahira also regained the R. I. T. Alles Memorial Trophy and set up a semi-final date against the defending champions Isipathana College next week.

St. Joseph’s v St. Anthony’s

St. Joseph’s College signalled a warning to the rest of their opponents as they hammered St. Anthony’s College to the tune of 57-0 in another President’s Trophy Knock-Out Rugby Tournament quarter-final match played at Havelock Park.

The last year knock-out tournament runners-up were in magnificent form as they produced a ruthless performance by running down five tries in the first 35 minutes and added four more in the second half to complete one of the biggest victories of the tournament in the recent past.

St. Joseph’s also avenged their previous defeat having suffered a shock 12-22 loss to the same opponents earlier in the curtain-raiser match of the tournament played at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy.

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