The inclusion of the 13th team in the top tier of the Singer Schools Rugby League has caused some confusion among the rugby fraternity, especially as to how the points will work-out with the unevenness in the two groups.
Schools Rugby in chaos; New team added
In a bizarre turn of events, the Sri Lanka Schools’ Rugby Football Association has made yet another controversial…
The inclusion of D. S. Senanayake College saw them joining the IA segment along with Royal, Isipathana, St. Joseph’s, Dharmaraja, St. Peter’s and St. Anthony’s. Thereby the teams of the IA segment will play six games each while the other teams in the IB will play only five games since their group consists of only six teams.
As we progress to the fifth week of the league, the second round of the season is set to start in a fortnight. The Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association has devised a mechanism to entail the competitiveness in the league while providing justice to each of the teams.
In the league system for the schools regulated by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association(SLSRFA), every win is awarded 5 points while the losing team also gets 1 point. If the winning team scores four or more tries, they are entitled to 0.5 bonus points.
Also, a losing team will have three opportunities to earn bonus points.
1. If the losing team loses by a margin of 7 or fewer points, they will be awarded 0.5 points.
2. If the losing team scores four or more tries, 0.5 bonus points will be awarded.
3. If the losing team scores more tries than the winning team, bonus points of 0.5 value will be awarded.
Moving on to the league table to accommodate the parity in the two groups of the league, the SLSRFA has devised the points table based on average points earned. Thereby, the mechanism for the two groups will be as follows:
Group IA – (Isipathana, Royal, St. Peter’s, St. Anthony’s, St. Joseph’s, D. S. Senanayake and Dharmaraja)
- For six matches, points will be awarded in the usual manner. At the end of the first round, the total point accumulated by each team will be divided by 6 and thereafter the teams will be ranked according to average.
- Out of the 6 matches played by each team, the tries scored in the match where the least number of tries were scored will be removed from the total aggregate and will be declared null and void. Thereafter, the remaining tally of tries will be carried forward to the second round.
For example, if ‘Team A’ has played 6 matches and in the match against ‘Team B’ they scored the least number of tries, the tries that ‘Team A’ scored against ‘Team B’ will be removed from their total tries scored.
- The top four teams will proceed to the second round of the cup while the lower three teams will be included in the Plate category.
- At the conclusion of the Cup championship after playing 4 games, the average will be calculated by dividing the points accumulated by 10.
All teams in the Group IA will play ten games in total
Group IB – (S. Thomas’, Science, Trinity, Wesley, Zahira and Prince of Wales)
- For five matches, points will be awarded in the usual manner. At the end of the first round, the total points accumulated will be divided by 5 and thereafter the teams will be ranked according to average.
- All tries scored will be taken forward to the second round.
- The top four teams will proceed to the second round of the cup while the lower two teams will be included in the Plate category.
- At the conclusion of the Cup championship after playing 4 games, the average will be calculated by dividing the points accumulated by 9.
All teams in the Group IB will play only 9 games in total
At the conclusion of ten weeks, the team having the best average will be awarded the league title.
Currently into the fourth week of action, the points table of the two groups stand as follows with Royal College and Trinity College College in the lead.
Points Table – Segment IA
| Position | School | P | W | D | L | T | C | P | DG | P/F | P/A | BP | Total | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1 | Isipathana | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 206 | 141 | 2 | 28 | 4.67 |
 2 | Royal | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 175 | 111 | 1.5 | 27.5 | 4.583 |
 4 | St.Peter's | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 139 | 122 | 1.5 | 19.5 | 3.25 |
 5 | St. Anthony’s | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 207 | 194 | 2.5 | 16.5 | 2.75 |
 3 | St.Joseph's | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 219 | 108 | 4 | 26 | 4.33 |
 6 | Dharmaraja | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 141 | 150 | 2.5 | 16.5 | 2.75 |
 7 | D. S. Senanayake | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 72 | 323 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
Points Table – Segment IIA
| Position | School | P | W | D | L | T | C | P | DG | P/F | P/A | BP | Total | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 3 | S.Thomas' | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 139 | 88 | 1.5 | 18.5 | 3.7 |
 5 | Science | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 111 | 130 | 1.5 | 10.5 | 2.1 |
 1 | Trinity | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 273 | 80 | 2.5 | 27.5 | 5.5 |
 2 | Wesley | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 143 | 132 | 2.5 | 23.5 | 4.7 |
 4 | Zahira | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 162 | 120 | 3 | 16 | 3.2 |
 6 | Prince of Wales | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 34 | 312 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
