The Anthonian Eagles have landed on the rugby field and their claws are sharp!

By A Special Sports Correspondent

The inter-school league rugby tournament has reached its most interesting stage which is the super round and four teams-Isipatana, St. Anthony’s, Royal and St. Peter’s – have pushed through all barriers to keep their hopes alive.

Apart from the three Colombo-based schools mention must be made of St. Anthony’s College Katugastota which did well to be counted this season with an improved performance and also showing the makings of a side that could rate them as the dark horse of the tournament. Now we all know that the dark horse concept is used in sport when a side has an outside chance of winning the tournament. The Anthonians deserve this tag because they have improved with every game and given there were seven grueling weeks of rugby thus far who knows how energies have depleted in the other teams. A good example is Trinity which had to pull out of last week’s game against Zahira citing illness to at least six of their players.

The only side from Central province to make it to the final four, St. Anthony’s, has lived up to expectations this season winning four out of the six matches they’ve featured so far in the tournament. The wins came against Joes (22-12), Wesley (30-29), Kingswood (26-10) and S. Thomas’ (34-17) while they went down fighting to Isipatana (37-26) and D.S. Senanayake (23-19). That’s a pretty impressive performance under skipper Sahan Keerthisiri who has played well as fly-half and mesmerized opposition teams with his booming and well-calculated kicks this season. He is also an inspiring skipper and led with example on the field. The Anthonians are coached this season by Sri Lanka player Srinath Sooriyabandara and much is expected of this team when the super-round matches begin soon.

St. Anthony’s is a school which has produced many great rugby players in the likes of Gavin Stevens, Andre Titus, Charlie Joseph, Tuan Doole, Priyantha Ekanayake, Leroy Fonseka, Pradeep Liyanage, Prasad Betepola, Tikiri Dissanayake, Lasantha Wijesooriya, Sameera Silva, Malith Silva, Imran Bisthamin, Diunk Amarasinghe, Nihal Viper Guneratne, L.V Ekanayake, Sanjaya Amunugama, Jeewa Jayasiri, Jude Dimithri and Amir Shajahan. The school had a wonderful year in 1988 under the captaincy of Leroy Fonseka and finished as runners up in the league rugby tournament. Their next best season came in 2001 when they won the league rugby tournament under scrum half and Sri Lanka youth player Tikiri Dissanayake where they got the better of Isipatana in the final showdown at Longden Place. That year the final game in the league tournament was marred by spectator violence and the Anthonians opted out of the knockout tournament citing security reasons.

Isipatana is the other side to watch in the super round. The Green Shirts have played cohesive rugby in the seven weeks they’ve featured in the tournament under skipper Nuwan Kanishka. What’s great in this school famous for rugby is that they have a way of finding replacements for those who finish their academic education with the institute. And unlike some other leading rugby playing schools the Green Shirts are not criticized as much for poaching players from other schools to strengthen their team. The side coached by Saliya Kumara have already beaten Kingswood, S. Thomas’, St. Joseph’s, D.S. Senanayake, St. Anthony’s and Wesley. Isipatana undoubtedly is the most feared and much-fancied side to walk away with the league trophy on yet another season. A recent Facebook post about Isipatana reproduced here would confirm what’s said by this writer in this column. Once a son asked his dad the question “Dad what’s schools rugby “and the dad’s answer came spontaneously “Son it consists of three tournaments where all the schools in Sri Lanka participate to play the three finals against a school called Isipatana”.

Royal College under skipper Randul Senanayake has done well this season to earn a name as a side that destroys the opposition in the second half. Their only setback came early in the season when they were handed a 11-5 defeat by St. Peter’s in the season opener. But as the season progressed the side picked the pieces up from that defeat, rebuilt their confidence and got the better of top Division 1 Segment A sides like Science, Zahira, Dharmaraja and Vidyartha, but lost to arch-rivals Trinity in the first leg of the Bradby Shield encounter; which was counted as a tournament fixture by the organizers of the tournament. The side is coached by Dushanth Lewke who holds the post of head coach. The coaching staff at Royal is packed with past superstars in the game like Radeeka Hettiarachchi, T.A Silva and Vishwamithra Jayasinghe apart from Lewke, who captained Sri Lanka in the 15-a-side version of the game.

St. Peter’s is the second unbeaten side in the tournament this season. It could be safely said that St. Peter’s is the side that could jolt Isipatana when the two sides clash in the super round. The side is packed with steppers (fleet-footed players). The school from Bambalapitiya has enough bench strength to stay competitive during crucial games as the tournament progresses to the super round. The side is led this season by Ashen Madugasge and coached by veteran Sanath Martis. The Peterites have had resounding wins this season and they ran up the season’s highest score which came against Vidyartha who they beat 66-10. They also had a moment of glory this season when they beat Trinity 22-10; a feat that would be etched in their rugby records for sure.