The third week of the Schools Rugby League saw the four-horse race narrowing down to two teams as the country will prepare for a famous Bradby Shield encounter in Kandy with the two teams Royal College & Trinity College going head to head to decide the victor for the elusive Singer Schools Rugby title.
Read Also: Decimals separate four teams; Schools League wide open
Four teams went in to the third week of the second round schools rugby action with title contention. In a week filled with exciting sporting action that tested teams to their true potent, only two teams returned with victories.
It was a battle of valor down in the hills where the Isipathana Green Machines travelled up to Kandy to confront Trinity College. At the end of 80 minutes, it was the Trinitians who were able to record a famous win at Pallekelle defeating the visitors 15-10. This was the first win that Trinity recorded at Pallekelle since 2009 against Isipathana.
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Reid Avenue was lit up for one final game in the league where the Royalists took the Doubles Blues for a ride after a tight 1st half. Having trailed at the first forty minutes of play, the Royalists bounced back aggressively to take home a 35-19 win in their last home encounter.
In other encounters, it was St. Joseph’s College who defeated the Thomian grit 26-12 at Havelock Park to win back the Lady Jayathilake trophy. The promising Zahirians once again showcased a disappointing performance losing out to St. Peter’s in a high scorer. Full-time scores read 43-16.
Results Summary Round 2 Week 3
Trinity 15 (1T 1C 1P) defeat Isipathana 10 (2T)
Royal 35 (5T 5C) defeat Wesley 19 (2T 3P)
St. Peter’s 43 (7T 4C) defeat Zahira 16 (1T 1C 3P)
St. Joseph’s 26 (4T 3C) defeat S. Thomas 12 (2T 1C)
With only two teams finishing with a single loss, the league title race will span to its final week and will be decided at the conclusion of the 80-minutes of play in Pallekelle next week.
The final updated Cup Points Table as at Saturday, May 13th will be as follows:
>> For detailed stats click here
Royal received full points for their match ending up with 5.5 including a bonus point while Trinity finished with only match points (5).
Isipathana despite losing will get a bonus point (0.5) in addition to the losing points(1) for losing by 7 or fewer points while Wesley will have to be pleased with the losing match points (1).
Learn how the Schools Rugby Points table works
In the other encounters, both St. Peter’s & St. Joseph’s earned the total points for a win (5.5) while the two losing sides; S. Thomas’ and Zahira will get only the losing points.
With the difference between Royal College and Trinity College being just a difference of decimals since the league is calculated on points average, the winner of the 2017 Singer Schools Rugby League will be decided next week at the 1st leg of the 73rd Bradby Shield Encounter.
Trinity will thus play host to one of the most important matches in the rich Bradby history where a lot is at stake for both teams going into the final week.
Royal College last won a league title under the captaincy of Bhanuka Gamage in 2015 while Trinity last won the league in 1987 under Tyrell Rajapaksha
The chances for defending champions, Isipathana College to retain the title will seem highly unlikely with two defeats under their name. Meanwhile, next week’s Isipathana-Wesley clash will decide which team takes the 3rd and 4th positions in the league table.
The other two encounters; St. Joseph’s College vs Zahira College & St. Peter’s College vs S. Thomas’ College will determine the latter four places of the table.
