Local rugby season draws to a close

The club rugby season has drawn to a close and the schools season will conclude on Sunday with the finals between Trinity and Isipathana.

On the schools front it is possibly poetic justice, to see these two schools meet given that Trinity was earlier crowned as the league school champs only for the decision to be reversed after the issue of ineligible players being fielded by another school being resolved. Thus as a result, Pathana was declared as league champs. The knockout final should therefore be an exciting encounter with both schools aiming to prove a point.

It’s a pity that the school season takes a break after the initial league matches given that there are exams in the intervening period. A nimbler of schools cited this as the reason and opted out of the knockout stage. The authorities must look at this aspect next year as there is bound to be a change in the club season as well.

Ideally we should have the school season being completed well before the exams, and thereafter deserving schoolboy talent be made available to join the club circuit.  There is widespread speculation that Kandy will lose its coach and next year’s Bradby will be a blockbuster and a battle of two foreign coaches.  

On the club scene, permitting all the teams to field a maximum of two expatriate players had mixed results. This time round there was no restriction on the position that these two players could occupy and a number of teams opted for the #8 position to filled by an expatriate. I recall having indicated in a previous column that one of the major drawbacks in local rugby has been the absence of a genuine #8.

Gone are the days of Saman Jayasinghe, Jeffrey Yu, Bharatha Hegoda, Anton Benedict, Rohan Gooneratne, and Ajith Abeyratne, to name a few. I don’t intend to stir a hornets’ nest by invoking the wrath of the readers who may believe that there are other names that should have been included. These names are used only for illustrative purposes and are in no particular order.

As we watch the top three international teams we see some classy #8s. They are strong, well-built, excellent carriers of the ball; scavengers in loose play and given a chance will show their prowess on the wing. To my mind, this position is vital in any team and it is not any burly guy who is able to do justice to this position. Unfortunately I did not see a single local player rise to this challenge. In most cases it was occupied by an expat and in the case where a local was in this slot, he gave a poor account of himself.

Another aspect that was conspicuous by its absence was that the inability of the third row to hunt as pack. Often one observed, that they were not willing to get their hands dirty and take the body blows in order to secure quick and even turnover ball.

The teams that ended at the top had such members and that definitely added to them being able to win turnover ball. Of the nine teams that took part this year, three of them played pretty ordinary rugby for most of the season with occasional flashes of brilliance.

Despite the initial hue and cry for a number of clubs on the fact that the UCL was permitted entry into the Division I, they justified their inclusion and appeared to play quality rugby as the season came into the knockout stages, almost upsetting the Havies in the Semifinal.

I cannot conclude without saying a word about the quality of refereeing this season. All of us are aware of the difficult task on hand and that referees being human beings will make mistakes.

All that we ask for is consistency in the application/interpretation of the rules and the role of the assistant refereeing should not be limited to flag waving when the ball is out of play.  They must assist the referee in other on field decisions and for this technology must play its part.  It’s a good time to take stock and plan for the future, action is the need of the hour, if not, we will be subject to same rubbish next year as well.

(The writer can be reached via [email protected].)