Dialog Knockouts President’s Trophy 2023 – Quarter Finals Preview

• Astounding 3 weekends of loggerheads amongst the bests of ‘Segment A’ Rugby awaits

While the supreme euphoria and aura of the League Final still lingers among us, we are forced to shake it hastily, along with its controversies, to embark on yet another astounding 3 weekends of loggerheads amongst the bests of ‘Segment A’ Rugby.

 Royal College has pulled out of the Knockouts as expected, and it appears that many are unaware as to why this ensues every year. Hence for the benefit of those readers, here’s the explanation. Royal has been taking its Rugby quite seriously for the past several years, and therefore the players focus mainly on Rugby alone from the pre-season onwards with rigorous practice sessions in the mornings and evenings. Once the League and the Trophy matches are done with, they allow the players to fully focus on academics, especially the A/Ls.

With Royal pulling out, and no other School wishing to take the available spot, we have only 7 teams this year to compete in the Knockouts. The draw of the fixtures was based on the League standings as of the end of Round 1, thus Isipathana heads the Table.

As each game would be a ‘do or die’ encounter for all Schools, no chances should be taken, and each team should first focus on amassing points by capitalising on their strengths, and exploiting the opposition’s weaknesses, before exploring other options.

QF1: Isipathana vs ???:

Isipathana gets a bye, and goes directly into the semi-final to meet the winner of QF 2.

QF 2: D.S. Senanayake vs Zahira at Havelock Park on 25 Aug:

The two teams from the lower Segment who rattled both their respective Groups, and gave many of the regular ‘A Graders’ a run for their money in Round 1, shall meet each other exactly after a year since they last met at the Knockouts Final in 2022, where DS emerged victorious. The composition and skillsets of both teams have evolved drastically since last season, where DS sported a strong, heavy and multi-skilled Forwards unit groomed by the then Forwards Coach Anuranga Walpola, who has taken over the coaching reins at Zahira this year. With both teams securing the third place with 22 points each in their respective Groups, and suffering only 2 defeats each, there are no tangible means of  gaging who would prevail on the day. 

The Zahira Forwards have demonstrated their strengths this season to get points on their own despite starving their Backs; nonetheless they have some swift runners who could finish what the Fronts started, if overlaps emerge. However, it may be quite challenging for the Maradana Boys should they choose to primarily attack with their Backs, as DS consists of fairly fast and effective tacklers. Consequently, Zahira would be better off launching successive Forwards attacks, after gaining real estate using the touch finding skills of Mohamed Saad, who would be keen on kicking a few 50:22s. 

DS is already well equipped to beat Zahira at the Backs game, both in offense and defence, hence they should be already hard at practice, training to defend heavy rolling/driving mauls and pick ‘n drives. They should also work to ensure that they don’t lose possession at the lineouts, whenever Saad finds touch during open play. Trying to avoid lineouts, especially within their grid, and running the Ball through the Zahirian defence is what the Donz have to do to survive this QF.

QF 3: St. Anthony’s vs St. Joseph’s at Havelock Park on 26 Aug:

The two teams met at the season opener to fluster the Rugby community of the Country, when St. Anthony’s clinically collapsed the mighty Joes with an astonishing win. You can bet that the Joes were waiting for this day to settle the scores, and to march their way to the semi-final.

Joes’ task should be comparatively easier now because they possess sufficient knowledge of the Antho outfit that they didn’t earlier. Even if they still don’t, all they have to do is watch the game Antho played against Royal last weekend, and repeat exactly what the victors did. Pick ‘n Go should be the order of the day, as SACK had no reply to Royal’s PnG offensives. In fact, the former couldn’t stop even the lighter Kingswood Forwards from gaining ground fast using this move. Although mauls could be used, it might be slightly dicey as Antho possesses a few tricks to counter them, although oddly, they haven’t opted to use them at every game. Again, Joes playing a running game against SACK may not yield more than a few Tries, since the Eagles are very accurate and effective in their tackling, no matter how hard the hefty Joes charge them.

SACK has no option but to primarily employ their Backs to penetrate Joes that would yield them the maximum harvest, as they cannot utilise their Forwards to better the heavier Joes. Keeping play in Joes territory and putting pressure may cause Joes to choke up some fouls, which will get Antho some extra points. Thus, Sahan’s touch and place kicking brilliance will become quite valuable, and possibly a decider in this encounter.

QF 4: St. Peter’s vs Trinity at Havelock Park on 27 Aug:

Starting off the season horribly and suffering a last-minute defeat to the Rajans, Trinity later improved to become one of the better teams in Segment A. Although it would have been ideal to find out how much better, they will be up against the unbeaten and impenetrable League Champions in this QF. Perhaps they may have gotten pitted against DSS, hadn’t they missed the encounter with Zahira. Nevertheless, it is a positive boost to the Knockouts itself, as Trinity rejoins the Tourney after 5 years.

In spite of Trinity being moulded into an attacking side, they were able to cross Peter’s line of prestige only once when they met earlier at the league encounter, and that too while SPC was caught off-guard immediately after kick-off. Although Trinity has managed to improve its game from then, so has Peter’s, and therefore the Boys from the Hills will have an uphill task in surviving this encounter. Bonus points available for grabs or not, the Bamba Brigade will score 4 or more Tries in this QF, hence the best homework that Trinity could work on is to perfect their marked tackling, in addition to beefing up their last line of defence. If they could succeed reasonably well in this, then Shan Althaf could keep them in Peter’s territory, enabling them to deal frequent damage through penalty points.