No postponement of school rugby league

By Shamseer Jaleel

The much-awaited school rugby league 2017 will kick off as scheduled without any further delays. 

The Division I tournament will kick off with a match between defending champions Isipathana and Dharmaraja on 24 February.

The doubt over the commencement of the Inter-School Division I Rugby League Championship 2017 was over the scheduling of some of the traditional school cricket big matches that are just about to begin. Informed sources said two or three leading Colombo schools were trying to grab some outstanding rugby players from other schools. It’s learnt that the three leading Colombo schools were eyeing players from C.W.W. Kanangara MV and Science College, Mount Lavinia. Whatever transpired before, the tournament will now begin on time.

Speaking to the Daily FT, Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association Secretary Denzel Darling said the competition would be worked off as planned. 

Clifford Cup Inter-Club Knockout Rugby Championship fixtures will not clash as the four quarterfinals and two semifinals will be played before the school league commences. Furthermore, the finals will be worked off on 26 February, which is a Sunday, so all the top referees in the country will be available for the school matches.

“Twelve teams will lock horns with Division I teams being divided into two groups. Each group will consist of six teams and they will play each other during the five weeks of play in the first round. 1A will see Isipathana, Royal, St. Peter’s, St. Anthony’s, St. Joseph’s and Dharmaraja competing while 1B will see S. Thomas, Science, Trinity, Wesley, Zahira and Prince of Wales battling it out for supremacy. The top four teams in each group will advance to the Cup stage while the last two in each group plus the top four teams from Division II will play for the Plate trophy. Registration of players should be done and dusted by 18 February,” said Darling.