St. Peter’s halt Isipathana’s winning streak; Joes register first win

By Shamseer Jaleel

St. Peter’s College put a full stop to Isipathana College’s unbeaten run in the Singer League with a convincing 32-15 win at Bambalapitiya. Almost everything favoured the Green Shirts but the lads from Bambalapitiya played cohesive rugby to beat their rivals after six long years. The last Peterite win was in 2010 under Keith Gurusinghe.

Wesley College, after their win against Thomians, playing a different brand of rugby outclassed Science in a one sided affair 36-10 at Longdon Place after leading 24-3 at the short breather. Wesley look set for a top three finish with a thriller against Zahira awaiting them.

Zahira the dark horse of the tournament displayed champagne rugby to outplay the last placed POW in a one sided affair by 64-12. Though the Zahirians were beaten by Thomians and Trinitians they are an outstanding outfit and will meet Wesley in their last league encounter before moving to the second round. They are likely to create a few upsets by knocking down the bigger named schools in the second round. In this group Trinity, S. Thomas’, Zahira and Wesley are tipped to move forward to round two while the other round which is evenly contested could see two of the good teams being knocked out. At present Rajans and Antonians are in the danger zone.

Royal continued their unbeaten run in the league when they outclassed D.S. Senanayake in a one sided affair at Welisara. Royal completely dominated, scoring seven tries for which the DS outfit could reply with only one. Royal dished out a super brand of open rugby and demolished the DS defence. 

St. Joseph’s College scored their first win this season when they outplayed Rajans 44-10 at Longdon Place. At the short breather the Joes led 25-3. The Joes ran riot where the Rajans committed a number of ball handling errors plus they were physically unfit playing in Colombo for the very first time this season.

Trinity College displayed champagne rugby when they visited Colombo for the fourth consecutive week and showed their superior fitness could win the matches. Coached by New Zealand Sevens legend Lote Raikabullah, the lads from up county had a clear 19-0 lead in the initial half. The Thomians did not have an answer for the Trinity onslaught from the kick off. A few ball handling errors cost Trinity a couple of tries in the initial half. After the turnaround, the Thomians settled and played better rugby to score a couple of tries but once more poor ball handling and wrong decision making cost them dearly. Now the battle is over for Trinity and the war is yet to be won.

They have won all their four group games in their first round and will be testing their bench against Prince of Wales on 27 March.