Oh Rugby, thy Kingdom come to Kandy

IT'S official now that Kandy becomes the new reigning Kingdom of Schools Rugby in Sri Lanka, for the first time since 2013, when Dharmaraja College took the Crown to the Hills. Considering that it was a very young team that was groomed with exceptional rugby skills in attack and defence, way much more than what their natural physical capacity is intended for, Colombo should be warned that the Monarchy is not shifting down to Sea level any time soon, at least not as long as Fazil Marija is Head Coach.

- By Arun Pillai

Trinity hosting Wesley - 2 Aug: It was the perfect grapple between two shiny new top tier teams, who commenced the game and progressed with set plans, purpose, control and discipline, hence kudos to both coaching crews for elevating Schools Rugby to these standards. The defending of both sides was another story, in which Wesley proved that theirs isn't any inferior to the Lions', which left the scoreboard seem broken for almost the first 20 minutes.

The Double Blues, who conceded over 20 penalties per game during the beginning of the season (and last season), now ramped down their sins to a moderate 8, in order to be able to make an even contest out of this game, which was truly remarkable as well. In the end, it came down as to who kept it together the most, and who made the biggest blunders in this significant encounter.

Trinity did commence the game with the maiden blunder by taking the Ball into their in-goal area and then grounding it, which awarded a 5m scrum to Wesley; but when most assumed that it would result in a certain Try, the Lions defended remarkably well to chase the Trespassers off their Turf in no time. In addition, Trinity also defended the mammoth Wesley Maul from a 7m lineout, by turning it over during some breathtaking moments and fashion, which was an immense accomplishment indeed, although very much anticipated by this Columnist. Thereafter, Trinity faltered by deliberately knocking the Ball forward while Wesley was attacking close to their 10m, thereby offering them a penalty opportunity, with which the visitors scored 7 points.

Then Trinity attacked desperately to score, but Wesley wouldn't give in, portraying almost the same class in defence as their hosts, until an offside offence put them on their backfoot with which the hosts scored an unconverted Try to trail 5-7 at Lemons. Trinity missed the opportunity to lead 10-7 at the break, by missing an easy Conversion, and a penalty kick in the prior half.