Schools’ Rugby Preview – Week 7

The Schools’ Rugby league will now move on to its business end in the coming weeks as the fight for the title intensifies and the teams focus on their league standings with three more matches to go in the season.

 Visit the Schools Rugby Hub 

The lads from Reid Avenue will make the trip to the Hills to confront the Eagles. The fixture will be important for the Royalists, especially if they intend to finish in the top three of the league table. St. Anthony’s College came up strong against S. Thomas’ last week in the first half but could not hold on to the high flying Thomians in the second half, losing the encounter 41-11. St. Anthony’s have always been at their prime when they play at home and they will be geared to give a strong fight to the Royalists.

Watch Live: St. Anthony’s v Royal

Royal shouldn’t be too complacent about their win from the previous week against St. Peter’s at the Royal Complex. Royal staged a comeback effort after St. Peter’s led 19-00 at one point. They retained the Angie Cup and that should motivate the visitors to perform better.

Isipathana College will look to keep their unbeaten tag alive for the seventh week running when they face Trinity College this weekend. A depleted Trinity College will face a big challenge this weekend at CR & FC as they come up against the Green Machine. Trinity looked like they have found another persona under their new coach Sean Wijesinghe but could not hold the Science lads last week at Pallekelle.

Watch Live: Isipathana v Trinity 

The Isipathana outfit will be a tough team to counter and after their 43-08 win against Wesley College last Monday they will definitely be riding high. The Gayan Wickremaratne-Chamod Fernando combo will be something the Greens will be wanting to utilize quite often at Longden Place and in support will be skipper Kushan Indunil with his co-center Sumudu Rankothge.

With an unbeaten tag to defend, S. Thomas’ College will host the Peterites for the Archibald Perera Trophy in the seventh week. The history books claim Archibald Perera to be the small giant in the sport in his era and St. Peter’s could take some inspiration from the great as they face the Thomian giants in their home turf. St. Peter’s couldn’t lay their hands on silverware last week despite their first half dominance against the Royalists and will be on the hunt for a trophy this weekend.

Watch Live: S. Thomas’ v St. Peter’s 

With a six-match winning streak, S. Thomas’ shouldn’t be too worried and will look to get the important bonus points from the outings that remain. Naveen Henakankanamge’s consistent form coupled up with center Sharith Nanayakkara’s surge from last week will most likely do the job for the Blue and Black.

After breaking the Pallekelle realm against Trinity, Science College has another tester as they face Wesley College this weekend at Ratmalana. The lads from Mount Lavinia will want to register another win under their name as they face the Double Blues. Wesley College ran out of adrenaline last week when they confronted the heavyweights Isipathana and just couldn’t keep up with the Green Machine. Wesley will need to work as a team to counter the fast moving Science College.

Watch Live: Science v Wesley 

The only worry for Science will be the fitness of their skipper Nirosh Udayanga and Janith Lakshan. Both of these players were taken out during the Trinity game owing to injuries. Science will look to play their customary fast moving game and the Wesley will need to tactfully deploy their three-quarter line to counter the runners in their opposition.