Isipathana tipped to win one more title

Isipathana player on the move

By Shamseer Jaleel

The much-awaited Schools Knockout Rugby Under-20 encounters between the eight top tea.m.s in each segment will take place at the Royal Sports Complex and Havelock Park starting today.

The semi-finals and final will move on to Royal Sports Complex there after the following two weekends.

Unbeaten League cha.m.pions Isipathana College should have things their own way when they meet Rajans in the first quarter final which could be one-way traffic. Rajans received their berth as St Peter’s were not allowed to participate in this event and the inquiry is still on.

Vidyartha College who showed a lot of promise in the league were found wrong doing in their ga.m.e against Isipathana which they hosted at Nittawela. Due to the investigation done by Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SSRFA) the skipper of Vidyartha, Arosh Ratnayakae will not be able to play for his school in the knockout tourna.m.ent this year. Further four more players were given a one-month ban which will give the Thomians a good opportunity to move forward to the semi-final encounter.

On the following day, Antonians will be in Colombo putting up one more brave effort to get into the semi-final stage when they play the injury hit Joes. This ga.m.e could go either way provided the Katugastota lads get an early lead and place kicking to be at the top end. In the last quarter final, Wesley should be able to go through to the next level without much difficulty as they possess a good unit.

Isipathana College lead the knockout tally of wins.

 Match fixtures 

Quarter-Finals Draw: 27 August – Royal Sports Complex (Referee Raveen Alexander)

• Segment C – Piliyandala CC vs President’s College at 10 a.m.
• Segment B – D.S. Senanayake College vs Mahana.m.a College at 2 p.m.
• Segment A – Isipathana College vs Dharmaraja College at 4 p.m.

 Quarter-Finals – Havelock Park (Referee Kelum Sandaruwan)

• Segment C – Sri Rahula College vs Devapathiraja College at 10 a.m.
• Segment B – Sumanagala College vs Maliyadeva College at 2 p.m.
• Segment A – Vidyartha College vs S. Thomas’ College at 4 p.m.

Quarter-Finals Draw: 28 August 2022 – Royal Sports Complex (Referee Dilum Deeshana)

• Segment C – St. John’s College vs Siri Piyarathna College at 10 a.m.
• Segment B – Zahira College vs Lumbini College at 2 p.m. 
• Segment A – St. Joseph’s College vs St. Anthony’s College 4 p.m.

At Havelock Park (Referee Ishanka Abeykoon)

• nSegment C – Nalanda College vs Sumangala College at 10 a.m.
• nSegment B – Thurstan College vs Prince of Wales College at 2 p.m.
• nSegment A – Wesley College vs Science College at 4 p.m.