Friday Nov 08, 2024
FT
Friday Nov 08, 2024
Wednesday, 2 August 2023 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Seven weeks of Rugby, 41 clashes among 14 Teams, and 48 hours of action-packed fast paced entertainment were the prime features in Round 1 of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2023.
Three teams fought valiantly for the last spot to enter the Super Round last weekend, while two of them chanted Josa… Josa… Josa… all along while playing. However, the team that was able to handle pressure the best made it to the next round, but consequently, they also happen to be the most multi-talented team out of the three.
Congratulations to St. Anthony’s Rugby!
As cited in the ‘Teaser’ column dated 13 June (https://www.ft.lk/columns/Fierce-competition-on-cards-as-Schools-Rugby-League-2023-kicks-off-tomorrow/4-749428), even trivial encounters offer Rugby fans, rare and scintillating moments of gameplays, that can live a lifetime in memories, and the final week had some of those moments, and in some cases, a chain of moments. If readers wish to dive right into it straightaway, please check out the SPC vs Vidyartha encounter.
Now let’s take a deep dive into the abyss of tactics employed during the final week of Round 1, but be warned that you will never feel the same once you come out of it!
D.S.S. hosting Joes - 29 July:
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| Science Vs Dharmaraja |
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| Wesley Vs Kingswood |
Although it appeared as if the Joes Fraternity gave up on their team by not turning up in numbers, the latter didn’t let them down, by playing with simple but effective tactics to submerge and choke a pressured and unambitious D.S. unit.
Joes must have been on a pilgrimage during the past two weeks, as they got back with miraculous boots, possibly received as a heavenly gift from the most holy one, which they used to score three Tries, with two of them being converted. The first two touch kicks came during the first quarter, gaining good yards that enabled Joes to unleash their nitro packs to score the first two Tries. Their new boots aided a successful conversion from a corner Try as well. The amazing boots finally blessed Joes with possibly their first 50:22 of the season, totally bamboozling D.S. and paving the way for their 3rd Try.
Joes kept their game simple, by gaining good ground from touches during open play, and then using their powerful Forwards to work their magic from the lineout onwards. Their attacks were quite effective in the first half, because they committed minimal infringements; however, they accelerated their offenses in the second half that allowed D.S. to attack back. In the final minutes of the game, Joes employed a closed gameplay tactic, where they hid and kept the ball close to their hearts, and out of the prying eyes and hands of the Donz. They were rewarded with the last Try for playing the final phases with proper technique and composure, which laid the icing on the cake.
The Donz fans came in numbers to support and cheer for their team, but sadly the team let them down by losing the game even before it began. They seemed to have gotten themselves overwhelmed by the sheer bulkiness of the opposition, and totally underrated their own strengths and capabilities. When a team commences a game with a strong body language that indicates the intention of continuous runovers of the opposition’s goal line by domination, it is understood that they are not going to stop with 2 or 3 Tries. Therefore, the only way you can beat such a team is by scoring Tries, and certainly not by chasing the score down with penalties. Not sure what the game plan was, but the Donz seemed to be content with 3 points, almost every time they were offered a penalty, regardless of whether it was within kickable range or not. It could be that they followed the same game plan the Thomians used for the Joes, a few weeks ago, but the confidence level and the flow of the Joes gameplay in this match was completely different from two weeks ago, which the Donz failed to identify.
D.S. was indeed quite capable of working the Ball off the scrums close to their opposition’s 22, and had high chances of outpacing the slower Joes to burst through them. Regrettably, it appeared that D.S. had got themselves intimidated by the enormous Joes that they rarely employed this play that has been quite rewarding for them in the past. In one of the few occasions that they used this play from around the 10m line of the Joes’ front porch, they succeeded in scoring a Try. Unfortunately, this play occurred very late into the game, after they had wasted most of their penalty opportunities around the Joes 22. To make things worse for D.S., a couple of passes closer to the Joes goal line were not made in a timely fashion to allow the ball to move down the line, which deprived D.S. of at least two scoring opportunities.
D.S. came back attacking in the second half with some fine touch kicking, thanks to the sudden surge of penalties by the visitors. An array of touches gained a good 40, 40, 35 and 30 meters respectively for D.S., and got them close to the Joes 22, but regrettably they could not encash on those opportunities due to a few handling and decision errors.
The assembled received a special experience that has been long dead and buried in Schools Rugby, as it was re-summoned by a negligibly minor fraction of the Donz supporters, when the visitors were attempting a place kick. The next time DS took the place kick, the whole of Havies rumbled and roared, as loud hailing hailed primarily from the adults’ section in blue. Later on, an official of the visitors was heard to say “you guys started it”, which makes one remember the phrase “Monkey see; Monkey do”, but seriously, isn’t that something a schoolboy would say? Shouldn’t we as ‘grown ups’ set precedence to our young ones? Are we affirming that we are prepared to bite the next dog that bites us on the roadside? Food for thought.
St. Anthony’s hosting STC - 29 July:
The Thomians took another guilt trip for the faceoff with S.A.C.K., carrying sack loads of past troubles from the season, to disappoint all those who followed them to the far side of Kandy. It appears that this team tends to forget what the coaching staff trained them on, and was well executed by them just weeks ago. This obstacle to progression would make any coaching staff pull their hair out, leaving them with a scalp of Tintin’s by the end of the season, despite starting off as Capt. Haddock!
As expected, S.A.C.K. turned up for this game tremendously pumped up and fully energetic, as they did in their season opener against the Joes. Although they made several handling errors in the first half, that de-accelerated their onslaught, they made up in the second half with some passionate and fast paced gameplay that proved no match for the visitors.
The Antonians, needlessly, let the cat out of the bag by showcasing a novel (at least to the SL Schools circuit this season) rolling maul tactic, just before the Super Round. Recognising that the Thomian Pack was quite strong although not bulky, they carried the ball on the side of the maul instead of the back, rotated the maul to bring the ball carrier almost to the front, so that he had only a few defenders engaged in front, and then broke off from the front corner of the maul, ripping off and dragging a few Thomian defenders with it to spinoff a mini maul, to successfully score two spectacular Tries.
They repeated the same tactic when defending a Thomian rolling maul, close to their goal line as well, by rotating the maul to expose the ball carrier almost at the front, and then employed a few fresh defenders to join the maul in front of him, and ripped the ball carrier away from the maul to bring him down successfully. Head Coach Srinath Sooriyabandara should be extremely proud to get this young team to accomplish such coordinated and timely manoeuvres not once, but many times in this match. This is the exact tactic that is required against teams like Royal and Peters, but the timing and the exposure of this trump skill could prove disadvantageous to Antho, and was certainly not required to beat STC.
The Thomians returned to the playing field with Sack full of sorrows and a match full of fouls, with two of the latter costing them Tries in the first half. Their old habit of ‘holding-on to the ball’ also coincidentally returned from their first game of the League, to this last one. Yehan couldn’t, or didn’t find touch during free play in the whole of the first half, that further deprived them of any advancements. Although the visitors consistently tackled well before the breather, they were chasing shooting stars during most of the second half. The main luck or grace the Thomians struck was that Sahan had an off-day with his boots in this match, thus the visitors were spared from an embarrassing defeat of 40 plus points.
Peter’s hosting Vidyartha - 29 July:
Vidyartha College Kandy had done their homework well, and worked hard in preparation for this match, despite losing 8 frontline players owing to injuries. The coaching staff and the Vidyartha players truly deserve a pat on their backs, and a standing ovation for coming into this match with a positive attitude and preserving it throughout the game, despite being overwhelmed and overrun by the Group leaders. This was a splendid display of strong character and sportsmanship by the Vidyartha camp that deserves praise and accolade! Head Coach Buddhika Abeysinghe deserves the highest merit for teaching his students to face extremely hostile and challenging situations with structured plans, determination, motivation and courage, which they would find tremendously useful in their life after School.
What could a lightweight mediocre team possibly do, when they are up against the heavyweights and potential League Champions? They could beef-up their defence a bit to help fend off Forwards attacks, and focus on marked tackling to counter the sprinting Peter’s Backs. They could also consciously attack with their strengths every time they possess the ball, as attack would be the best form of defence. Lastly, they could make every effort possible to avoid losing possession of the ball, and this could be accomplished by minimising handling errors and infringements. Believe it or not, Vidyartha accomplished all of the above with utmost optimism, although knowing for sure that they can never win this encounter. If any team deserved an award for ‘courage under fire’ in the League Tournament, it would be none other than Vidyartha College the “Tigers”!
Three notable achievements of the visiting team must be mentioned. Firstly, their continuous pressure tackles forced at least 6 handling errors in the opposition camp that not only disrupted some of SPC’s offensives, but also won turnovers. Secondly, although Vidyartha attacked mostly with their Backs, they scored one of their Tries with a series of pick ‘n drive phases, by drilling through the Peterite Forwards defence quite easily, which uncovered a vulnerability in the Peter’s defence. Although SPC is not scheduled to meet opponents with heavy Forwards in the Super Round, they would be surely up against strong Forwards, who are capable of launching surprise attacks to squeeze one or two Tries, just as Vidyartha did in this game.
The third noteworthy achievement was the exact tactic that St. Anthony’s used in their mauls, on the very same day and time period! They formed a rolling maul from a 6m lineout at the hosts’ front door, then rotated the maul, and spun-off a mini maul to score a Try in the first half. This proved to be a perfect tactic against opponents with heavy Forwards. They attempted the same technique in the second half, but Martis was too good of a smart observer to allow it to happen twice, as SPC was on the alert for the spinoff rolling maul, and ensured that they did not engage.
Thus, one may question as to how Vidyartha gave away 60 plus points if they were so prepared, attacked and tackled well? St. Peter’s played this game solely with their Backs, and although the visitors marked, chased and tackled reasonably well, the superior sprinting, dummying, offloading, and the sudden changes in speeds and directions totally outsmarted and outclassed the visitors.
Science hosting Dharmaraja - 29 July:
This encounter turned out to be an unexpectedly entertaining thriller, where both teams had fiercely competed for a win, but finally the hosts secured their only win for the season. Unfortunately, an analysis was not possible, as there was no video footage available.
Zahira hosting Trinity - 29 July:
This most anticipated encounter was not played due to several Trinity players falling ill that required hospitalisation on the match day, hence Trinity College had no choice but to withdraw. Let’s not add insult to injury, but pray for the students to recover well without serious complications.
Kingswood hosting Wesley - 30 July:
Wesley continued to use the power and weight of their Muscles to overpower the hosts in the final encounter of Round 1, that was also played for the L. E. Blaze Trophy in Kandy. Wesley continuously attacked with rolling mauls and pick ‘n drives to score, as the hosts were able to do only little to stop the visitors from crossing their goal line several times. Although it was not necessary for this game, Wesley had worked to contain their infringements, which makes one think that only if they had done it for the previous match against Isipathana, we could have enjoyed a tight contest throughout the game.
On the contrary, the hosts crippled themselves with a magnitude of infringements and unforced handling errors that they should have corrected, before taking on a stronger team like Wesley. When a team is strong and is able to dominate its opponent, then there is no need to focus and curtail infringements or handling errors. However, when two equally abled teams meet, or when a weaker team is up against a tougher one, then these matter a lot. Kingswood possesses unique strengths that cannot be countered by the slow Wesley defenders, and it was proven when a lean Maroon dashed in-between two hefty defenders, almost within hugging range, to score a Try. This is the power of being lean and fast, but unfortunately Kingswood lost possession nearly 25 times by their own blunders, that were not corrected from their previous games, which made the evening a walk in the park for the visitors.
