Defending champions Royal favoured to win league

Singer League 2018

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Singer Schools Rugby League 2018 will come to an end this weekend with the last round of matches taking place this weekend. 

The pick of the games will be the one between defending champions Royal College and a wounded St. Peter’s College. Royal College are favoured to pull it off and keep the trophy safe at Reid Avenue for yet another year.

St. Peter’s, who had a good outside chance of regaining the Singer League, saw their hopes fade when they were beaten by their traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College last weekend. This will be a good opportunity for Coach Sanath Martis and his men to prove a point. Royal College, who are playing cohesive rugby this season, without any doubt are the best side but had narrow escapes in their encounters against St. Joseph’s and Wesley College. Led by Shabith Feroze and well supported by Janidu Dilshan, Thulaib Hassen and Dulan Goonwardena, they boast an outstanding outfit. All credit should go to Martis for taking and grooming these players to a high standard before handing over the reins this year to Dushantha Lewke.

St. Joseph’s College should have things their way when they lock horns against Isipathana in another clash in Colombo. St. Joseph’s have some stars in their outfit and without a doubt, Gemunu Cheethiya is one of them. He is omnipresent on defence and attack. He is well-supported by Tharindu De Alwis, who is another good player. Isipathana, a young outfit led by Ruberu, maintained a good standard but could not end up on top. The average age of the outfit is just 17 years and in the next year or two they will hit their peak.

Kingswood and Wesley will meet each other in the Blaze Trophy. Both teams are equally balanced and the result could go either way but the lads from Randles Hill hold a slight edge. The Blaze Trophy started in 1986 and in the initial year Kingswood, led by Ronny Ibrahim, won the shield. Out of the 25 encounters, the Kandy school have won 20 times while Wesley accounted for three times with two years ending in draws.

Trinity should have things their own way when they come out for their last game at Pallekelle this season, against the lowly-placed Zahira College. Trinity will be under the watchful eyes of former 1987 rugby Lion Inthi Marikar who took over as their Interim Coach. At present Trinity is placed sixth and a possible fifth position is on the cards provided they can earn a bonus point win and Wesley defeat Kingswood.

Trinity, led by Sheik, have one of the better sides in the competition but could not deliver the results their talent promised. Kingswood, Isipathana and St. Peter’s could have easily seen results go their way and it would have been a different story. Ranaraja, Sakalasuriya, Zayd and Rashen are the players to watch out for from the Trinity camp. A win here for the Lions will give them a lot of confidence ahead of the knockout competition in two weeks and the Sevens soon after.

Today

D.S. Senanayake vs. St. Thomas’

St. Anthony’s vs. Dharmaraja

June 9

Royal College vs. St Peter’s College

Referee H.P. Weranga

Kingswood College vs. Wesley College

Trinity College vs. Zahira College

Referee Priya Suranga

Kingswood College vs. Wesley College  

Vidyartha College vs. Lumbini College

June 10

Maliyadeva College vs. Science College

Isipathana College vs. St Joseph’s College

Referee Dinka Peiris