Blaze Trophy 2016: Traditional rivals to set the stadium ablaze

Traditional ‘brothers’ Kingswood and Wesley Colleges will scrum down for this year’s edition of their annual rugby big match for the L.E. Blaze trophy at the Royal Sports Complex grounds on Saturday 14 May. 

This year’s league standings indicate Wesley to go out as favourites, with Kingswood – the school that introduced rugby to Ceylon in 1891 under the aegis of the very Blaze for whom the game is dedicated – having had arguably their most lamentable seasons in recent years. 

On the eve of the game, Wesley is placed fourth in Segment 1A of the League, winning two out of their five fixtures. In Segment 1B, Kingswood stands sixth, failing to register a win this season in five outings.  

Wesley will be led by Prop Forward Zayan Sabar, who is also a reliable front wheel of their burly pack, which has shown grit and application this season, especially in the face of some close games. 

The team has the advantage of securing the service of a few players who have been donning the double blues’ jersey for the past two seasons, and will look up to the likes of Number Eight shashika ashan, Scrum Half Avishka Lee and Center Avantha Lee, who have been winning crucial advantages for Wesley in the past few weeks. Wesley also has the advantage of their 2015 skipper Omar Kuthubdeen manning the last line as Fullback, as well. The Wesley XV is coached by Jeevan Goonetillake.

Kingswood is led by Sachinthana Udagalahitiyawa, who will front a team that has, over the years, shown heavy dependence on their back division which, in the best of seasons, has provided fast and open rugby. 

The superior pack weight of Wesley may be a deciding factor on the day, but Kingswood will expect their players to link and provide a game that will also be a salvaging of pride and prestige. Number Eight Shenesh Kaushika and Fly Half Ranaweera have “watch out for” cards pinned on them and would be expected to inspire Kingswood’s fortunes. 

On the positive side, Kingswood has just contracted past Kingswoodian and veteran physical trainer cum coach Mohotilal Jayathilake to their coaching staff, who was a lynchpin in the school’s glorious rugby run in the mid 2000s. He joins Head Coach Chamara Withanage, working in consultation with Ananda Kasthuriarachchi.     

With distinct Methodist and Wesleyan relations, Kingswood and Wesley are “brother schools” with historical and cultural links that go back to the earliest years of their institutional history. Founded in 1874 under the auspices of Rev. Daniel Henry Pereira, with Rev. Samuel Roswe Wilkin as its founder principal, Wesley has a rich shared history with Kingswood, which was founded in 1891 by Louis Edmund Blaze as a Private Boys’ School. 

Blaze is of Methodist background and Kingswood was placed under the Methodist Mission in about 1894, and in the years that followed the two schools have shared much in education, culture and sport, which includes two Principals in Harold Nonis and Kenneth M de Lanerolle who have served both schools with much distinction. 

The Blaze Trophy encounter was initiated in 1986, which Kingswood won that year under the stewardship of Ronnie Ibrahim, who later on went on to excel as a coach with a Midas’ touch in the national circuit. 

The series has generated some scintillating rugby with much fanfare from either side until it was temporarily interrupted in the mid 2000s, owing to “unsporstmanlike behavior” on the part of some spectators; which resulted in the fixture being called off. However, the resumption of this series in 2013 was seen as a commendable and positive step — not only in the name of rugby in the two schools, but also as a strengthening of a historical bond which, with years and many changes in the country’s education, has become “nominal” and “remote”: a pale ghost compared to the shared ties of pre-nationalization times.

In the last three years, the Blaze trophy has been a hotly contested “ding dong”, with Kingswood winning in 2014 and (by a narrow 19-17) in 2015. The 2013 game ended in an 8-all draw at Bogambora under soggy and slippery conditions. 

In 29 encounters Kingswood has won 20 and Wesley has triumphed 05, while 04 games have ended in ties/draws. But, all that is history as Wesley has a proven side this season with a balanced pack and back division. Kingswood, on the other hand, has come second best in all their four outings so far, though their games against Dharmaraja and St, Anthony’s were “touch and go” right up to the last whistle. 

However, Kingswood-Wesley games have had several “upsets” in the recent five years such as Wesley’s win in the 2010 Knockout semi finals, and Kingswood’s 8-8 deadlock in 2013, and what one hopes for is a cruncher of a battle, where superior rugby of the highest caliber will be dished out by two teams investing their loyal best.