A total of over 32 teams will compete around the country in the newly introduced under 16 15-a-side league which will be held during the month of August.
The Under 16 League tournament was introduced by the Sri Lanka Schools’ Rugby Football Association in a bid to improve the junior rugby system in the country. The initiative that kicked off a few years ago has had tremendous growth with ample schools enlisting themselves in the junior tournament. Played under normal world rugby guidelines, the under 16’s will use the full ground as the playing area.
The complexity of the tournament has forced the organizers to hold the tournament in the form of three legs in the initial stages organizing regional tournaments to shortlist the quarterfinalists. Accordingly, the Colombo & Western region will constitute to four slots in the quarterfinals while two will be reserved for the schools from Kandy.
This time around, there will be a team each coming from the Galle and Sabaragamuwa regions for the quarters which is a good move for the regional development of the sport.
The first round of matches of the Colombo preliminaries will take place on the 3rd of August at the Science College grounds in Mount Lavinia with the participation of 16 schools who have made it through to the pre-quarters.
The tournament will take a respite on for three days and resume on the 6th to shortlist the final quarter-finalists and will progress to the knockout stages.
The fixture for the Pre-Quarterfinals on August 3rd will be as follows:
- St. Joseph’s College vs Science College – 8.30 a.m.
- Wesley College vs C. W. W. Kannangara College – 09.30 a.m.
- Ananda College vs Isipathana College – 10.30 a.m.
- Thurstan College vs Piliyandala MMV – 11.30 a.m.
- D. S. Senanayake College vs Mahanama College – 2.30 p.m.
- St. John’s College vs Sri Sumangala Panadura – 3.30 p.m.
- Nalanda College vs St. Peter’s College – 4.30 p.m.
- Prince of Wales vs Lumbini College – 5.30 p.m.
