Sunday Dec 29, 2024
Sunday Dec 29, 2024
Wednesday, 5 July 2023 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Rugby fanatics’ nightmare slightly improved last Saturday, when the number of matches played on the same day was reduced from five to four, resulting in only one of those matches not being streamed live.
However, with the full match replays no longer available to the general public, most would miss watching three of those matches anyway, which is a big bummer for the SL Schools Rugby community.
Thus, the general plea from this community to the School administrations would be to at least spread these matches out to additional days, if the Schools don’t want the replays to be available to the public until the end of the season.
On the flipside, the Schools that objected to this should realise that technology is well advanced these days, and anyone who truly wishes to capture the live streams can do so quite easily, even without the help of a Computer Wizard.
In the third week, the debutants of Segment A (formerly Division A), registered their second consecutive win earning the 2nd and 3rd place in their respective groups. They also send out strong messages to the teams they are yet to meet, stating that intent to secure the #2 position of their respective group Tables.
Joes hosting Pathana - 30 June:
Not sure if it was due to the extended size of the grandstand at Royal Complex the week before, the Joes' supporters seemed somewhat diluted. After their dismal performance in that game against Wesley, one would have expected the Josephian supporters to have further diminished. Nonetheless, they came in great numbers to cheer their team, believing firmly that they would rise to the occasion, and they did just that!
Joes looked like a refreshed outfit, and played very clinical Rugby in the first half, exploiting both of Pathana’s weaknesses that were highlighted in last Friday’s “Week 3 preview column”. First and foremost, they were adamant about keeping play in Isipathana’s territory and kicked away anything that they got in their front yard. Once play was in Pathana’s territory, they attacked hard and squeezed out a ton of penalties off them, exploiting Pathana’s first weakness.
Once they got close to Pathana’s 22, they used their Forwards to drill flawlessly through the much lighter opponents, employing the rolling mauls and pick ‘n drives, to which the Greens absolutely didn’t have an answer, other than committing further fouls. Inopportunely, the Saints were mostly unable to finish their attacks that they came so close to, on so many occasions, leaving them trailing 8-10 at lemons. To everyone’s surprise, they didn’t, or couldn’t pursue the same tactics post-break, hence that gave Isipathana the upper hand to wreak havoc at CR!
Maybe someone announced that there will be free Ice Cream for the team with the highest number of infringements during the breather, Joes went berserk with fouls in the second half, whizzing past Pathana’s 13-odd in no time. Earlier they were quite disciplined and conservative during the first half. Not sure if the plan discussed during the interval was to continue with the previous tactics or adopt new ones, but it was apparent that the Joes went for the Ice Cream.
Joes wrecked the whole of the second half by continuous infringements that consistently deprived them of scoring 5 plus. Even in the final minutes, when their points deficit was merely 3, and they had clear possession of the ball, their taste buds for Ice Cream topped the taste buds for victory, as they committed their last and the most destructive foul to allow Isipathana to go over the goal line instead.
In addition, they had problems with their lineouts, squandering on three occasions; some of them being kicked to touch-off penalties, hence invariably wasting 3 penalties. Maybe, well maybe, this might be a reason why the Josephians opted to land some of the touch kicks off penalties, inside the playing field?
With all of the above things going wrong for the Joes in the second half, they just couldn’t cope with the green fury, who kept going (coming), and going (coming), and going (coming) at them. Maybe it’s about time that someone launched a competitive product called “Energiser” named “Green Machine”!?
As the highlight of the match, two yellow cards were shown at the same time to two Isipathana players in the 25th minute of the game. Collapsing a maul is something that is seen very often, but one doesn’t often get to see intentional collapses of the ruck.
The first card was shown for the usual schoolboy naughtiness, which is harmless. The second yellow card was shown to #7 for punching a Josephian player in the groin area, which was a malicious act of violence. There is no doubt that the offender Chamath Iroshan brought disrepute to his alma mater by this act, which has been working very hard to maintain discipline and keep their Rugby clean for the past several years. This act also makes one wonder, if the complaints received the week before by the Referee from the Thomians, that they were being punched inside the scrums were true? Hope the Isipathana Rugby administration looks into this matter before things get out of hand?
Thora hosting Kingswood - 1 July:
Although it was a quiet Saturday evening down College Avenue with a mediocre gathering present, the vocal sounds got louder than the passing Engines, post-kick-off. It was the hottest and the tightest contest of the day, and most neutral Rugby fans would have patted themselves on their backs for choosing to be at this venue, amongst the other four.
It was exhilarating from the word go with both teams pressing to attack desperately, but then the home team succeeded in doing so initially and scored a converted Try. As they returned momentarily to the same premises attacking, they were awarded a penalty almost in front of the tall Posts, but they shrugged it off to every Thomian’s dismay. Instead, they worked it confidently and delightfully to go over the goal line, one more time to lead 14-0.
Kingswood was able to showcase what they were actually capable of in this match, by using their fast and highly penetrative Backs on the dry Turf to return the assaults and stay close behind the hosts. They possessed the spirit and enthusiasm along with the required skills to succeed but fell short due to their own wrongdoings. Even though they faltered only on a handful of occasions, a majority of their knock-ons came upon when they were fiercely and successfully penetrating the opposition’s 22. The intensity of these onslaughts, coupled with panic settling in the Thomian camp, meant that the chances for them to have scored were quite high, during most of those lost occurrences.
The ultimate transgression of the visitors was none other than the literal sense of the word itself; it may seem nearly impossible to win a match with close to 20 infringements. Having said that; it was indeed a wonder that Kingwood had enough close opportunities to surpass the victor’s points tally, if not for that handful of split chances.
As for the Thomians, they appeared as confident as they were in their last match against Isipathana and continued with the same vigour and attitude. They further minimised their infringements and showed more courage and confidence when attacking with their Backs. Amusingly, 3 out of their 8 infringements were committed by one player, Reshane Dwight, who was later sent off with a red card to take his shower early, and he was seen walking very slowly towards the Pool area.
The Thomians were also exemplary in gaining miles by some fabulous, long-distance touch kicking, including a 50:22 that helped them keep play in the opposition’s grid. Luckily for the visitors, the hosts squandered many penalty opportunities, by not being able to clear the touchlines, and thereby handing over possession back to Kingswood. The Thomians continued to have problems with their lineouts, although not as bad as the previous match, losing a handful of them. Their worst problem of the match was the record rise of knock-ons, but luckily for them, it seldom occurred when close to scoring. So maybe lady luck was also in play, but didn’t favour the visitors?
Zahira hosting Science -1 July:
Most Rugby fans were able to get their first proper glimpse of Zahira’s Rugby skills and capabilities in their home match against a bruised and battered Science outfit. Not too long after the kick-off, one was quick to realise that Science would be no match to Zahira, and this was going to be a one-sided affair with some resistance.
Zahira showed off that they can attack with their Forwards as well as their Backs. They scored their first Try through a well-structured and bound driving maul initiated around 30 metres from the Science goal line. In the second act, their three-quarters exhibited their pace and offloading skills to penetrate a rapid Science defence to score the second Try, and many more thereafter in a similar fashion. Zahira also gained decent territory from some accurate touch kicks, one of them exploiting the new 50:22 law.
With the above strong display, they have already proven that they are actually the 3rd best team in their group, and they would be only up against the prowess of Royal and St. Peter’s, who can prevent them from going that extra mile. However, Zahira has a few problems that have to be addressed immediately before they face the Supremos; the number of ball-handling errors and penalties conceded would be self-inflicted burdens that will weaken their game against the Rugby Giants.
As for Science College, their skills were no match to Zahira’s, and sadly they would most likely end up without any wins in their group.
Royal hosting Vidyartha - 1 July:
Who said only pictures can speak a thousand words? Sometimes, even the final scoreline can! If you still strongly feel that something must be said, then you must have missed our preview of week 3, published on the 30 June. You can also find the online version in the following link.
https://www.ft.lk/columns/No-battles-of-the-supremoes-but-upsets-likely-to-continue/4-750102
Rajans hosting Peter’s - 1 July:
Unfortunately, this match was not covered due to the high number of games on the same day, and therefore it was not possible to explore game tactics, strengths and weaknesses of each team.
Wesley hosting D.S.S. - 2 Jul:y
Wesley College pulled up their socks and turned up for this encounter with a positive attitude. The number of knock-ons dramatically subsided from 11 in their last game to a mere 3, which was astonishing and much commendable! On the contrary, their infringements leapt up from a sheer 5 to 14. Their placekicking was a bit unruly, as they missed an easy kick to the goal, which would have helped them to be locked head-to-head at the latter stages of the game.
D.S. continued to dazzle with their touch kicks that acquired them the distance. They contested for the ball actively at all times and managed to turn over at a solitary scrum, ruck and a lineout. Although it was just one occurrence each, their intentions were made clear, as they strive to improve going forward.
Nevertheless, they went a bit wayward in the lineouts, voluntarily giving away a couple of them. Once again, their Backs were brilliant in capitalising on a handful of opportunities, when the Wesley defenders were found lazing, to sneak through the gaps in a flash. (Maybe they watched the new DC movie and were inspired by it?)
The double blues did come back chasing after the Donz, scoring in successions, notably one through a spellbinding 50-metre rolling maul. One may wonder what the D.S. players were doing without halting the maul during those couple of minutes, while the maul slowly proceeded from the centre of the field to the goal line? Maybe they thought that the maul was just a decoy for the Wesley line to be activated momentarily?
The Wesleyites got themselves into a very comfortable position to win from here, also getting all their fans pumped up in excitement, but unfortunately, their inexperience and lack of focus gifted the game to the Donz and allowed the latter to run away further, ripping off the bonus point from the losers as well.
nResult: D.S.S. beat Wesley 29-20
