Peterites date Joes in Battle of the Saints

By Shamseer Jaleel

Unbeaten Peterites, under hard nut Head Coach Sanath Martis, will be battling it out at their second last game of the Singer League 2018 when they confront their traditional rivals, St. Joseph’s College at Longdon Place on 2 June. This encounter will be played for the Father Basil Weeratunga Shield.

The Peterites remain unbeaten to date after some close calls in their first and second round encounters. They had a narrow shave against inconsistent Trinity, the difference being just one converted try against Isipathana. 

Meanwhile, the Joes outfit only lost out to Royal in a close game. The Peterites have the edge in the series with 39 wins to Joes’ 14 under their belt.

Shehan Liyanapathirana, being a top-class player for the Bambalapitiya lads, is the highest point-scorer in schools rugby. Dilshan Madushanka, Julian Charles and skipper Javed Zarook are the players to watch from the Bamba camp. For the Joes, without any doubt, their players to watch are Gemunu Chethiya and Tharindu De Alwis.

Royal and Isipathana will clash for the Major Milroy Fernando trophy, which was initiated in 1986. Unbeaten Royal, who are favoured, might be tested here and there but, in the end, they should be able to remain unbeaten according to their present form. Led by Shabith Feroze, Janidu Dilshan and Thulaib Hassen, the outfit from Reid Avenue looks just as good but, their meeting with the Peterites in their last game will decide who remains unbeaten to take the title. They had a close call against Wesley, just managing to win by a one point difference.

Isipathana, led by Manilka Ruberu, a young outfit with the average age being just 17 plus, have produced some good quality rugby, but let their supporters down the way they played their last encounter against Trinity. Ball-handling was far from good.

Kingswood playing at home against Zahira should have things their way after some improved performance in the second round. The home team will need to have tight security for the visiting team and match officials in Kandy.

Trinity, too, will play their second last home game when they meet the much-improved Wesley outfit at Pallekelle. Wesley, who produced their best game so far in the season, was beaten by Royal by a mere one point. Trinity, on the other hand, lost out to Kingswood, Joes and had a draw against Isipathana where all three could have ended in their favour if they had had a good placekicker. This is the major problem for the Kandy outfit, who last produced Tharinda Ratwatte a few years back. Their senior players, Shiek, Warren and Rajaratnam, have let the side down with average play. It was only the juniors who produced some entertaining rugby for the crowd. Vishwa Ranaraja, Amith Kulatunge and Madhi Abdullah will be at their peak for this game.

June 1

DS vs. St. Anthony’s           Havelock Park

June 2

Royal vs. Isipathana                       Havelock Park

St. Peter’s vs. St. Joseph’s               CR & FC

Trinity vs. Wesley                          Pallekelle

St.Thomas vs. Dharmaraja           Mount Lavinia

Science vs. Lumbini MV               Mount Lavinia

Vidyartha vs. Maliyadeva             Nittawela

June 3

Kingswood vs. Zahira                    Bogambara