Friday Nov 08, 2024
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Friday Nov 08, 2024
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
DS Vs Kingswood
Isipathana Vs Antonians
Royal Vs Rajans
Week 5 literally packed some exciting Rugby between Friday and Saturday, but unfortunately two of them unexpectedly, turned out to be landslide games. Few doubts that lingered as to who will take the second positions in both groups became somewhat clear. St. Peter’s and Royal’s berths remained unchallenged in group 2, while the second berth in group 1 is still up for grabs, but with St. Joseph’s losing the race.
Week 5 also happens to be the week prior to the biggest Schools Rugby Festival of the season, and eyes were on the two contending teams to see if the Kandyans could cause an upset in the first leg of the Bradby Shield.
Let’s have a look at what unfolded during the intensified 5th week of the Dialog Schools Rugby League.
D.S.S. hosting Kingswood -14 July:
A confident and determined looking D.S. Team took the field at Havelock Park, hoping to overrun a seemingly meek Kingwood unit, who happened to be at the rolling end of a sleeping giant that suddenly woke up, just before the 11th hour.
D.S. commenced the game with an intended force, and scored their first Try in under a minute from kick-off, and continued to pile up successive Tries, with a little help from the bounce of the ball favouring them. Around 15 minutes after kick-off, it looked like another one-sided game exceeding 40 points. Kingswood could neither comprehend what was happening, nor react, until D.S. ran out of steam following a couple of converted Tries.
When Kingswood came back, they came back strong, scoring continuously, and soon were breathing down D.S.’s neck; from this point, it was Kingswood’s game to lose, and that’s exactly what they did, with every opportunity that they got. Some of their 10 knock-ons were transformed into Tries by D.S. Although they converted two difficult kicks to goal, they missed a sitter and thereby lost 2 points. Kingswood also missed a certain corner Try by not passing the ball on time, where there was only one defender to stop two who were sprinting towards the goal line, only some 20 meters away.
Despite the narrow defeat and grabbing 2 bonus points, Kingswood proved that they are not pushovers, but if they are to pose a threat to the other teams in their group that they are yet to face, they; first; got to; stop; dribbling; the ball!
Pathana hosting S.A.C.K. - 15 July:
Almost ten busloads of supporters travelled from Kandy for the most anticipated and vital match for St. Anthony’s College, but unfortunately the team, who mattered most, failed to turn up and play!
The match was kicked off with Pathana attacking from the word go, and the reactive body language of the Antonians read that they were well versed on how to defend the Greens. Despite being the defending Champs, and unbeaten since last year, Isipathana acted wisely and maturely to take two consecutive penalties offered in front of the posts to lead 6-nil.
S.A.C.K. allowed Pathana to score its first Try by not engaging in a driving maul initiated just outside its 5m. The 5m mark is too close to the goal line for any team to take a chance, presuming that it could be a rolling maul. Experienced teams seldom transfer the ball from front to back, until the oppositions engage. Maybe the Antonians thought for a moment that they were playing against rookies? This could be the only possible explanation, as the Antonians have already shown, that they are skilled with many options to defeat or defend a maul; any maul, of any size. Antho marked and tackled well most of the time, but failed sometimes. In particular, they gave away the second Try due to poor tackling by more than a few defenders, who were overcome by the slithery, slippery moves by the Greens.
Although Antho’s handling errors were at a minimum, unfortunately one of them deprived the Kandy boys of a certain Try, when the field was wide open without a single defender. S.A.C.K. employed the incorrect tactic of kicking the ball deep into Pathana’s grid, instead of finding touch, throughout the game. It is a no brainer as to how the Greens value possession, and love to run the Ball from their 5, all the way to the opponents’ end and score; all evening, if necessary. If one wishes to take the game to the Pathana half, then the best option is to find touch and restart the game with the throw, when the defence is well positioned to stop the crafty Backs.
To top all these wrongdoings, S.A.C.K. committed 18 fouls in this match to throw away a game that they have been working so hard for. Since the first match of this season, their number of infringements have been 13 or above, and this was the match by which, they should have curtailed it to half; but instead, they beat their own record of 16. Sadly, it appears that the coaching staff has focused on all the wrong areas since their first outing on 14 June?
The final score doesn’t really reflect on how bad the Antonians played, as 21 points were scored by S.A.C.K., only in the dying 8 minutes of the game, when Pathana already had a tall lead that was extremely safe, and they were seen to be taking the charging Antonians lightly, as they had already secured the game. Maybe the Greens were kind enough to grant the 10 busload of supporters something to cheer about, on their long ride back home?
STC hosting Joes - 15 July:
The master plan of Coach Shamlie Nawaz outdid the skills and determination of the much-fancied Josephians, on this nerve wrecking Saturday evening thriller down College Avenue.
Joes came prepared to attack from the first long whistle, and they were allowed to do so by the seemingly complacent home team. Bubbling with fresh energy, they scored their first Try off a driving maul, showing their might against the lighter Thomian Forwards. Although the Joes kept on attacking mostly with their Forwards, the Thomians were able to defend reasonably well. Joes then had to link up with their Backs to advance the attack further, and score a few more Tries, before they finally reverted back to their Forwards to score the 4th and bonus winning Try off a series of pick ‘n drive phases.
The Thomians kept their cool and took all the penalties offered within kicking range, while the Joes were busy piling up Tries. The Thomians defended well enough to hold the Joes to 12-9 at half time, and then scored Tries whenever the opportunity presented itself, whilst still kicking the penalties in range to goal. STC commenced attacking with the Forwards, the moment the Joes Skipper Naveen was sent off with a yellow card, and scored their last Try, which was converted by Yehan, to bring them to a 2-point lead. The home team defended well from this point onwards, until Naveen returned to the field, and thereafter, until the last long whistle. Many called it the resurgence of the Thomian grit, witnessed after many years, but the writer prefers to label it as the “Renaissance of the Blue, Black and Blue”!
While the Thomians played a smart and tactical game, waiting patiently for the Joes to tire a bit, and picked the right time to attack with force, the Joes could have still won this game, if not for the 15 infringements that they have carried on from their previous games. The number of fouls should have been restricted to eight or under, when coming into a tightly contested game like this; unless the visitors firmly believed that this encounter would surely be a déjà vu of their previous weekend?
Royal hosting Rajans - 15 July:
Finally, the Rajans uprooted part of the creepers that kept them down all this time, to showcase their brand of rugby against the mighty Tuskers. It is true that the Rajans sensibly played this game for respectability, as opposed to, trying to beat the masters of the game, which might have been quite impossible. Yet, they finally played their true game that has been debarred due to their own wrongdoings; the game that they trained so hard, in order to achieve the highest possible levels in all aspects of it.
The Rajans chose the correct tactic of kicking the ball into Royal territory, assisted by some poor high ball handling by the hosts. Once they had possession in the opposition’s grid, they kept attacking with their Forwards and Backs in tandem, milking penalties from time to time, and accumulating the points. It was pretty evident that their place kicking was specifically trained to convert all penalties into points in this match, regardless of whether they were within kicking range or not. They were also sensible in not going for touch, and then forming a maul to challenge the Royal counterparts, or to work the penalty. However, they could have opted for the scrum, whenever a penalty was offered in close proximity to the finish line, and then taken on the Royal Backs in their offensive, which they didn’t choose to do for some reason.
It was more or less, a battle of the Forwards during most part of the first half, which was a feast to watch. The only thing that the Rajans couldn’t comprehend were the Royal mauls; other than for that, they handled the Forwards quite well. Royal’s rolling mauls were devastating, and almost always reached the goal line, when initiated from within traversing range. Rajans occasionally made the mistake of not paying attention to where they were playing, and committed some fouls enabling Royal to hook the ball from close proximity to the goal line, and thereby allowing the disastrous mauls to form.
Despite Dharmaraja’s best of efforts, Royal could have still scored 50 plus, but it seems like the creepers that the Rajans cast away, have trapped the Tuskers now. On the eve of the Bradby Shield, when they should be in perfect form, and free from any imperfections, some of their old problems along with some new ones have surrounded the Reid Avenue boys. Poor lineouts, high number of unforced knock-ons, and to top it all, the fear of the high ball; all gifted the advantage to the opposition, allowing them to accumulate points, whilst depriving Royal of scoring any. Although Dushanth Lewke will surely put these things right within a week, these were totally unwarranted at this stage, as Royal could have used the week before the Bradby, to work on tactical plays, rather than to retrain on the basics of the game.
Trinity hosting Science - 15 July:
An unmatched Trinity outfit levelled and cemented the seemingly underprepared Science lads from Mt. Lavinia, in a crucial test before the most important game of their season. Trinity continued to stand by their new motto of ‘Continuous offensive; Continuous scoring’ from their last game, with clear improvements observed in all departments of the game. The area that outshone the others was, Shan Althaf’s accurate touch and place kicking that gained them miles of territory, and earned a ton of extra points; commendably, he perfected two 50:22s in this match.
The Kandy boys also maintained their handling errors to a minimum, which helped them successfully complete a majority of their offensives. As they stand now, they are ready for the 1st leg of the Bradby Shield that is scheduled for this week, and are also positioned with the skills that can be used to minimise the effect of the Royal Tusker’s might! However, their number of infringements have doubled following the off week they had, and this has to be curtailed prior to their Big Match, if they are to retain possession of the ball, which would be a key tactic.
Trinity’s Forwards and Backs proved untameable for the boys in maroon, and all they could succeed in was, disintegrating a majority of Trinity mauls before their formation. It seemed that Science had no game-plan for this encounter to reflect Trinity’s current form, hence it is highly possible that their coaching team reviewed the Lions’ first two matches in preparation for this game. Science settled happily for the last place in their group early-on in the game, as it became apparent to them that their skillset had no chance against the Lions’. The hosts were already leading by a large margin at this point, when the visitors opted to kick a penalty, offered just outside Trinity’s 5m line. To make things even worse, a Science player suffered a temporary concussion after attempting to take a charging Forward head-on, possibly using incorrect techniques. The Coaching Staff must ensure that the players consistently and accurately follow the techniques that are taught to them, in order to safeguard themselves, as well as their opponents.
Zahira hosting Peter’s - 15 July:
St. Peter’s College, completed their homework to correct some of their shortcomings from last weekend, to showcase a thumping performance that might have made the Zahirians wonder if they were in fact, playing in the wrong segment. In reality, it wasn’t the Zahirians, but it was the Peterites and the Royal Tuskers who were playing in the wrong Segment. These two teams should be ideally playing in a segment of their own titled “a plus”!
Peter’s initially scored owing to Zahira’s series of infringements. Once the ice was broken, so were the floodgates. Zahira’s ploy was to keep play in Peter’s half, but in order to do that, they kept kicking the ball deep into SPC territory. Peter’s however, didn’t kick back, but held possession and charged back into the opposition’s grid. Surprisingly, Zahira kept on repeating the same mistake without kicking the ball to touch. Maybe, it’s about time for AI technology to be introduced to these games, so that the coaching staff could get tactical suggestions in real time?
SPC managed to thwart Zahira’s deadly mauls almost every time, successfully demilitarising their main weapon of mass destruction. Although Peter’s did improve their handling errors from the previous week, it is not up to their standards yet, hence should be worked on a little further.
