No upsets but tough contact and intense rugby were on offer

Zahira Vs DSS

Peters Vs Trinity

Joes Vs St. Anthony's

Knockouts President’s Trophy 2023 – Quarter Finals Analysis

The 3 Quarter Final matches of the ‘Segment A’ Schools Rugby Knockout Tournament were kicked off at the Havelock Sports Club from 25 to 27 August, largely with a subdued attendance. It has been quite disappointing to observe low turnouts for the KO Quarters and Semis during the past several years, whereas one would expect the KOs to foster improved attendance compared to the league, considering that it marks the end of the 1st XV Season, and also because every match played could be potentially the last for the participating teams.

The Boys in the middle who have toiled so hard for these games for months, sacrificing many other things they love, while taking the blows and enduring the pain, for the amusement of the Rugby loving Community, thoroughly deserve the lively support of fellow Students, Parents, Old Boys and well-wishers of the participating Schools.

Although there weren’t any upsets last weekend, and every match progressed as expected, the opener triggered controversies relating to the adjudication of the game, which has now been escalated to the Education and Sports Ministry in a rather serious tone.

D.S. Senanayake vs Zahira – 25 Aug:

Train hard; play harder, was the name of the game for the Boys from Maradana, as virtual sparks spiralled to adorn the playing fields of Havelock Park, as a result of tough contact and intense rugby being rammed between two enthusiastic and highly competitive sides, to kick open the 2023 Rugby Knockouts Tourney. Although the game commenced with utmost urgency, the sheer significance of the encounter made the two teams edgy, forcing consecutive silly blunders in tandem during the first 10 minutes, and a start-stop affair initially. 

Once the nerves were settled, Zahira launched its onslaughts mostly dominated by pick ‘n go moves from the word go as expected, although they were unable to finish them, despite crossing the opponent’s 10 on two occasions. One was spilt close to the goal line, and the other was lost due to support not arriving on time, which prevented the ruck from forming before the Jackler came into play. In addition, they took their own cool time between each Pick ‘n Go phase, which made one wonder if they were charging up power for a turbo boost or chanting mantras? Although each phase gained at least double ground compared to the usual, a Bride could get ready for her wedding between each phase, which is not justifiable, considering the defenders had ample time to recover, reassess and react to the next phase. In the end, most of their Pick ‘n Go offensives were unsuccessful, with some of them resulting in penalties for holding on.

Zahira threw in at a few lineouts around DSS’ 10, but failed to make the perfect hook every time, and therefore was unable to form the perfect maul of demolition. Once, when they managed to form a rolling maul close to DSS’ 22, they failed to release the ball after the maul stopped moving, which resulted in a turnover. 

It appeared as if the Zahirian Forwards got worn out pretty fast as the game progressed, as they allowed a Try that was hardly contested, because they were catching their breaths while a quick tap was taken for an infringement close to their 22. In essence, it seems like the Zahirians are not accustomed to distributing their energy throughout the game, but seek to extinguish it during the first half of power play. This has been observed continuously affecting their offensives and defending capabilities in the latter half.

Zahira’s Backs took the crowd by surprise by performing comparatively better than usual in both offence and defence. They played passionately, devoting their hearts and minds to the game; however, one of their Try-scoring moves was lost inside the opposition’s 22, due to a spacing blunder between adjacent attackers. Nevertheless, they were key in penetrating the D.S. defence to score their only Try in the second half.

D.S. capitalised on a few chances they got to attack inside Zahira’s grid and went back with points. Yet their offensives launched off scrums inside Zahira’s 22 were meticulously neutralised by the defenders. The Donz aced their homework perfectly, and admirably thwarted a majority of Zahira’s powerful Forwards attacks, especially at the goal line. They disallowed the Zahira mauls to become effective and defended the pick & drives satisfactorily, and as the old saying goes, fortune did favour the brave on this occasion.

DSS’ poor run with the lineouts turned disastrous in this crucial encounter. They lost possessions due to 2 crooked throws, 2 poor hooking and 2 free kicks given away due to the time wasted at the lineouts. Their 8 unforced handling errors added to their misery, with one of them occurring close to Zahira’s goal line that deprived them of scoring, and another right in front of their Posts at the dying moments of the game that cost them the match and the Tournament.

• Result: Zahira beat DSS 15-13 

St. Anthony’s vs. St. Joseph’s – 26 Aug:

As once mentioned in this column, not only pictures speak a thousand words, but the final scoreline can too. However, this particular encounter has some facts that need to be acknowledged.

• St. Anthony’s College set precedence for true sportsmanship by turning up for a tournament in the absence of seven frontline players. Kudos to Antho Rugby!
• Joes set a record for this season by infringing only twice in the whole game.
• SACK broke its own record for this season on infringements, blasting through the 20 barrier. The coaching staff should give themselves a pat on their backs for this mammoth achievement that they have been working so hard on.

Apart from this, it's crystal clear from the final tally that Joes played an immaculate game with minimum errors, stamping their return to form, and sending a strong tsunami alert to the Wetlands of Bamba.

• Result: Joes beat SACK 57-nil

St. Peter’s vs. Trinity – 27 Aug:

Despite this being an encounter between the League Champs and a team that didn’t make it to the Super Round, the turnout was quite decent and the Boys from Kandy didn’t disappoint the assembled, at least for the most part.

Trinity continued to play another fine, attacking game of Rugby that restricted the tally to a close 8-6 at lemons. Their attacking skills enabled them to penetrate the first few lines of Peter’s defence, but successive immature moves caused them to forfeit at least two Try scoring opportunities. Had those opportunities been transformed into points, they could have applied immense pressure on the Champs to force mistakes, and possibly turntables.

The Peterites must have gotten their shots of adrenaline much later, instead of Lemons, because their rampage became fierce only in the second half, with repetitive, dodgy offloads executed brilliantly at a fast pace, that side-tracked the defenders, causing them to open up space and unroll the red Carpet to their doorstep. Unfortunately, one of those captivating Tries was disallowed, because it involved a pass that was deemed forward. Nevertheless, the Peterites entertained the crowd with a fascinating, fast-running game in the second half that would surely give the Josephians sleepless nights and occasional nightmares until Sunday next.

Trinity had little or no answer to Peter’s rage in the second half, but they managed to spoil some of the latter’s victories with some fine tackling. They also gave SPC little leverage to attack, by infringing only 6 times in the whole game. Trinity’s coaching staff can be very proud of the consistency that they have maintained throughout this season in following the laws of the game. After all, what is life without discipline?

nResult: St. Peter’s beat Trinity 25-13