The wait is almost over but as Sir Winston Churchill once said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.
So after five months of preseason, planning, implementing skills acquisition programs and anticipation, we are at the beginning of the Singer schoolboy rugby season. For rugby committees the rugby pre-season is even longer. They need to find sponsors, a coaching team, propose a budget, look at new ways to inspire and motivate their rugby program not only for this season but also to have a plan for the future.
For the players that began this season’s journey towards making the starting 1st XV, they are now on the precipice of the starting the season proper. Blood, sweat and tears have been shed, sacrifices have been made, emotions have been invested and then a bit more hard work has been given by the teams for extra measure.
Pre-season pain is as integral to the rugby season as complaints about the refereeing. We all know a strong pre-season is needed but only strength and conditioning trainers love this part of the season. The unseen advantage that comes from the pre-season search for pain is the team bonding that comes with communal sweating. A trust develops between players, combinations grow and lifelong friendships are built on a good pre-season.
The feeling this week around the training grounds is crackling. The tension is the same as when a heat wave is about to break just before a monsoonal downpour. The deluge of rugby will be relentless this weekend with Super Rugby beginning its season and Six Nations continuing also.
The pick of the games domestically sees St Anthony’s College and Trinity College travel to Colombo to take on St Peter’s College and Wesley College respectively, on Friday, while a day later Royal College plays St Joseph’s College. All three games will be watched with much interest as speculation runs free during pre-season matches especially as all of these teams have title hopes heading into the weekend. Of course the other teams who have a shot at the title, namely S Thomas’ College and Science College are playing but Prince of Wales College and Zahira College, who are their respective oppositions, do not possess the traditional threats that other schools bring.
Those die hard rugby fans in Kandy, you know who you are, can watch Dharmaraja College host reigning schoolboy champions Isipathana College before turning their attention to the Dialog club champions, Kandy Sports Club, entertain Havelock Sports Club in the final of the Clifford Cup.
In a late development D. S. Senanayake College Colombo has been added to the top tier after an appeal to the courts and winning the right to enter the competition. This places pressure on all teams as their meticulous planning is thrown into disarray. It seems the six months we had as our off-season was not time enough to organise the competition as the major sponsors of Sri Lankan rugby battle it out for control of the tournament leaving the fans without video coverage of the first weeks play. Still there are question marks about the scheduling, booking of grounds and possible points confusion with a lopsided draw and D.S.Senanayake not playing in the first weekend.
Rugby fans will be upset that we will not see the games being streamed live without being at the ground. Negotiations between major rugby sponsors Dialog and Singer may avoid this catastrophe but as we went to press a resolution was still to be found. As more last minute decisions are made that effect the schoolboy league we can only hope that the rugby makes up for these administrative blunders. I know the players are hoping for an entertaining style of rugby that attracts fans as they prepare for the season of their lives.
