Defending champions of the Under 18 All Island Schools’ Rugby Championship, Isipathana College, will go in as favourites for this year’s tournament that starts today in Kandy and Colombo.
The All-Island competition organized by the Sri Lanka Schools’ Rugby Football Association will feature 23 teams consisting of 15 from Colombo, 5 from Kandy and one team each from the districts of Galle, Kegalle & Kurunegala.
With the record number participation from around the country, the tournament will run parallel in both Kandy & Colombo in the group stages and will later progress to Colombo for its final stages. The 15 teams from Colombo and the team from Galle, which is Richmond College, have been divided into four groups consisting of four teams each while the other eight teams will play in Kandy in two groups. The league matches are scheduled to end on the 25th of August paving the way for the knockout stages to commence.
The final encounter is set to be played on the 10th of September in Colombo and it would be an exciting contest for the upcoming players to make their mark before they graduate to their respective 1st XV jerseys. In addition to the Cup championship, there will three other titles on offer which are the Plate, Shield and Bowl titles.
Last year’s encounter saw the Sumudu Rankothge led Isipathana College Under 18 Rugby team making their mark against a strong S. Thomas’ College side in the final. The Thomians made their entry to their first ever Under 18 All Island final under the leadership of Naveen Henakankanamage but couldn’t overcome the Green Machine. Another strong contender in the under 18 segment should be St. Anthony’s from the Kandy group who were crowned champions in the under 16 segment last year and also made it to the semi-finals in the 2015 edition.
ThePapare.com will be bringing you the highly anticipated Under 18 All Island Cup final live.
Colombo Segment Groups
Group A: S. Thomas’ College, Prince of Wales, Ananda College, Carey College
Group B: Thurstan College, St. Joseph’s College, Mahanama College, Eheliyagoda MMV
Group C: Wesley College, St. John’s Nugegoda, Lalith Athulathmudali MMV, Richmond College
Group F: Isipathana College, Zahira College, Moratuwa MMV, C. W. W. Kannangara MMV
Kandy Segment Groups
Group D: St. Anthony’s College, Trinity College, Maliyadewa College Kurunegala, St. Sylvester’s College
Group H: Kingswood College, Dharamaraja College, Vidyartha College
