Peters, Isipathana prove their prowess to reach the finals

League champions St. Peters and Isipathana powered their way to finals of the President’s Trophy 2023 Knockouts overcoming Joes and Zahira respectively in the semi finals. 

Isipathana vs Zahira -2 Sep:

“They got what it takes to tear apart the Isipathana defence with their Forwards,” was the speculation made by an unsuspecting columnist who was forced to gulp his own words, when a resurrected Pathana Forwards Pack, ripped apart a very strong Zahirian Forwards unit to shreds, by playing their best frontend game this season. It’s not that Pathana never played a hard Forwards game this season; they showed their prowess in their opening game against Kingswood, where they exhibited solid Forwards skills combined perfectly with their usuals. 

The mammoth fault they committed this season is that they didn’t use the skill constantly and keep it polished, hence paying the price in the Super Round games. Had they played the Forwards game alike, the league final would have had a slightly different outcome.

Zahira’s mauls were not allowed to move even an inch by the petite but mighty Pathanians. In addition, they defended the Zahira pick ‘n drives pretty well; so well, that sometimes the drives were driven backward. Moreover, to the surprise of the spectators and the bewilderment of the Zahirians, Pathana kept drilling through the Zahira Forwards effortlessly and scored 4 Tries either exclusively or assisted by their frontends.

Both teams played the kicking game, being quite anxious and greedy for territory, with Pathana winning the mini-battle for two reasons. Zahira could not find touch almost all of the time during open play, nor were they able to effectively chase down their kicks to move play to the opponent’s grid. Secondly, Pathana found touch more often than not, but when they failed, the Zahira Backs were too slow after they received the kicks, as the Greens made instant appearances in front of them, every time they tried to work the line.

Though Zahira started out their ultimate venture on a positive note and was full of energy as usual, they lost the plot, enthusiasm and energy after the breather. Seemed like the kicking boots of Mohamed Saad were ‘under the weather’, in a literal sense as well, as Zahira never threw in anything near the Pathana 10. 

Zahira’s Backs failed to impress in this game, as they seemed to have a weak link that kept slowing, or rather stopping their line, thus Pathana’s rush defence didn’t really have to rush it, to contain the Zahira Backs. During an instance when Zahira’s pick ‘n drive was not contained by Pathana, they lost a Try scoring opportunity very close to the Pathana goal line, due to their turbo-charged drives, driving way too far, and out of reach for reinforcements to arrive, before the Jackler forced a holding on infringement.

The highlight of this game was that the first infringement occurred in the 17th minute of the game, which was a very rare occurrence in this season. I hope to see many more matches with such discipline in the future as well.

• Result: Isipathana beat Zahira 39-10 

St. Peter’s vs St. Joseph’s - 3 Sep:

Sunday dawned amidst the uncertainty of play being held due to the continuous heavy downpours that had flooded Havelock Park to portray a paddy field that was prepared for the planting of seedlings. Later the weather Gods showed mercy on the Rugby enthusiasts by holding back their fury and allowing most parts of the turf to dry to a decent state.

Joes came in for the kill, and it was quite evident in their body language and urgency, as they continuously strived to get into their opponent’s facility, with consistently good touch kicks during open play in the first half. They utilised pick ‘n drives frequently, knowing that the Pete’s were weak in defending them, and got rewarded for their valiant attacking efforts with an early Try, yet failed to collect the extra points by missing an elementary conversion. They also kicked into SPC’s open field, which was a risky play, but they had structured cushioning in place as defence, most of the time.

However, Joes joined Antho’s Lonely Club by failing to do their homework to effectively work their mauls against the Peterites. It’s not just once, twice or thrice, but Peter’s has demonstrated in many encounters, a number of tactics that they employ to counter mauls successfully against many teams. Once again, Joes’ maul attacks were carried out as if the Peterites were extraterrestrials that no one had any clue about. This ignorance ruined at least 2 maul offensives from SPC’s 22 that could have been turned into Tries. However, the one-time Joes managed to get their maul working from the opposition’s 40, they were able to convert the subsequent moves to a Try. Luckily for them, Peter’s engaged with the maul this time assuming it to be of low risk, as it was far out from their line of prestige.

Joes’ body language indicating an emotional and mental exit from this game, came in close to half time although they were leading 8-0, when they opted to kick a penalty offered from 45 metres. One could appreciate it if a team wishes to reduce the deficit before the breather, but attempting something impossible instead of kicking to touch and working it from there, is beyond any sane comprehension. It may be possible that Joes realised the impotency of their mauls against Peter’s defensive tactics, which discouraged them from going for touch; however, the fact of the day was that their place-kicking was under the weather as well.

After conceding the first Try, Peter’s defended Joes’ pick ‘n drives rather well to everyone’s surprise, and held their ground until half time, at which point they got their shot of adrenaline, in a standing position by coach Martis. When they returned to action, they were a completely different outfit who dominated the rest of the proceedings.

• Result: SPC beat Joes 16-11