By Shamseer Jaleel

The Inter-School Under-20 Rugby Season 2022 will come to an end after a long wait of 2 years without the oval-shaped ball game when the unbeaten Isipathana College and St. Joseph’s College clash in the grand final of the President Trophy Knock-out rugby encounter at the Royal Sports Complex on 11 September.

Kick-off is scheduled for 4 pm.

The last time both teams featured in the President Trophy final was in 2017 when the lads from Darley Road edged the Green Shirts out. Vinul Fernando’s Joes won 19/13 in a thriller. 

But the following year though Joes came to the final stages, they were beaten by St. Peter’s in the final encounter.

Isipathana handed off Rajans in the quarter-finals and Thomians in the semi-final encounter while Joes got the better of Antonians 33/17 in the semi-final, which went into overtime they had to fire all cylinders to beat the Wesley outfit 16/13. 

In the School Super round, Isipathana got the better of Joes by three points.

Isipathana will be led by Dahan Nithina and has some outstanding players such as Praveen Stefan, Waruna Sangeeth, Wewala Pandith and Sooriya Dodangoda in their outfit. They are coached by one of the best in the country and technically correct, Saliya Kumara, the National Women’s Sevens coach.

Joes are led by Teran Karunanayake and got some magnificent players such as Dilhara Subash, Naveen Marasinghe, Jehan Athkorale and Ruchira Rodrigo. They are coached by the tactful Nilfer Ibrahim, the National Men’s Sevens coach.

Referee was Ishanka Abeykoon.

Isipathana dominate President Trophy

D.S. beats Zahira  to win Premier Trophy