Potential Wesley-Thora final inversed by destiny

Schools Rugby Knockouts 2024 – Semi Finals Tactical Analysis 

It was a fantastic weekend of top tier rugby at the Semi Finals of the President’s Trophy Knockouts Championship 2024, where all four teams dished out high-octane, masterclass performances to resurrect the oval ball game sharply, to the standards that the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Fraternity are accustomed to. Therefore, a very special appreciation of heartfelt “thank you” goes out to the coaching crew and the players of all four teams, for the hard work put in at the training sessions, and for playing their hearts out! 

St. Peter’s vs Wesley – 7 Sep:

The double blue Thunder, almost struck down the Bamba Brigade during the last several gruesome, heart-pounding minutes of the game, where the Brigade defended their goal line, like there was no tomorrow. It was do-or-die last minutes for SPC, as they were caught between the unforgiving Devil and deep double blue Sea tidal waves of ‘pick and drives’. It would have been far worse for them to return to their dressing room to a fuming and hysteric head coach Sanath Martis, hence they fought like fearless warriors who have no homes to return to, in order to defend their pride and honour.

The game was lost by Wesley College tactically at the inception itself, when they kicked away possession to hand over Pete’s their first attacking opportunity, that led to their first converted Try. Two other golden opportunities were also lost by Wesley, when they received two back-to-back penalties, along with a sending off of a Peterite Player on each occasion, but the touch finders fell in-field on both those pivotal match turning moments, where they had only 14 and 13 defenders to overcome. Other than for the above majestic mess-ups, the double blues had a wonderful game with benchmark Ball handling, while their infringements were kept below 10 up until the last few minutes, when their naughty basic instincts kicked-in to accumulate 13, that included 2 intentional late charges.

Unfortunately, Wesley’s coaching crew could not come up with tactics to form indestructible mauls, or more accurately ‘Brigade-immune-Mauls’, that was highly warranted in this knockout fixture. As the Pete’s were able to counter and defeat a few of them, Wesleyites were more inclined to use their ‘pick and drive’ attacks, which didn’t really work out for them in the wet paddy field surface at the Complex. One needs to be able to drive using the grip of the foot on the ground with power generated from the leg muscles. As 80% of the Royal Sports Complex resembled a bed of clay, this wasn’t helping Wesley’s pack from the beginning. However, they still opted to carry out this impossible task of driving on the soggy clay surface, which rewarded them with only a solitary try. In the writer’s opinion, the touch kick should have always been the go-to option under the prevalent conditions, as even if 2 out of 10 maul attempts returned a try for Wesley, then that would have been more than sufficient to win the game.

The wet and soggy conditions didn’t help the SPC three quarters either, as they could not generate their optimal burst speeds quickly enough to penetrate the open spaces on most occasions. At other times, the spaces closed by the time they were able to attain reasonable velocity. The Brigade’s Brick Wall defence was a benchmark for defending ‘pick and drive’ offensives, as they successfully neutralised wave after wave of heavy, strong and brave onslaughts by the double blues. The walls only got soldiers, as the line of prestige was approached, while a majority of the ‘pick and drive’ attacks took place within 5m of Pete’s front door. The St. Peter’s coaching crew can be pleased this time, as they had done their homework properly, to recognise and acknowledge their opponents’ strengths, and be adequately ready for them. However, the Peterites played a totally undisciplined game by committing nearly 25 fouls (including advantages played), following a saintly 5-foul match at the League Final.

 What is more disheartening is that Wesley could not make optimum use of these penalty opportunities to either gather 3 points, or translate them into Tries, as they repeatedly opted to waste their time and energy trying something that was never going to work out in the end, as already been proven once before by SPC, against the Royal Tuskers at the same venue, a few weeks ago.

Result: Peter’s beat Wesley 23-20  

Isipathana vs S. Thomas’ – 8 Sep:

 The Thomians impressively recovered from last week’s substandard presentation, to come back with a strong performance fittingly tailor made for the Kings of Rugby, to produce a gripping game of Rugby that felt way too short, despite going into extra time. Although the Greens didn’t have any action during the past 3 weeks, they managed to maintain a consistent performance, showing no signs of rustiness or sluggishness. Nevertheless, their firepower seemed somewhat withheld, and was not unleashed until very late, when it was absolutely required.

After losing the League Final to SPC, largely owing to the 6-penalty difference, the coaching camp of the Greens had worked on this area to condense the total count to a mere 6 in this knockout encounter, which might have been the crucial factor for their persistence in this game. They completely annihilated the Thomian lineouts by turning over thrice, thus not permitting the unstoppable STC Mauls to form. In combination, their touch finders during open play gained them territorial advantage that put them constantly on attacking positions. 

Regardless of the above exceptional performance by the Pathans, the Thomians defended relentlessly, showcasing their maturity and elevation of their game to match up to the ever-Green Machine. Their classy defensive efforts manifested in the form of unwavering and effective formations that primarily did most of the work, as open spaces became available for the Greens to infiltrate rather infrequently. Their ‘pick and drives’ although rather slow against the much-improved Pathana Pack defence, gradually penetrated the latter’s defences little-by-little up until the finish line, whenever the 10+ phases were executed without handling errors.  

In addition to the lineout turnovers accomplished by the opposition, the Thomians marred their own chances with their menacing mauls, by throwing in a couple of crooked ones. Despite having maintained a disciplined game up until the last moments with just 8 fouls, the last 3 successive infringements led to their demise, with the first one being a slothful ‘not rolling away’ offense inside their red zone. This ignited the Green Machine’s Nitro Cylinders, and thereafter there was absolutely no way of stopping their crafty, swift grooves.

 Result: Isipathana beat STC 25-20

 (The writer can be reached at: [email protected])