Big upset turns Tables of the League

The second mammoth upset of the 2025 League transpired when the high-rising Thora outfit outplayed the Green Machine at home, breaking a 16 year wait to get the better of the Kings of Rugby. Up in the Hills, and inside a dark Den, the Tuskers were ravaged in cold blood by the Lions to roar to the top of their Group. With 3 undefeated schools in the League, we now have all the Ducks in a row, ready to compete for the Cup, Plate and Bowl Segments in two weeks. 

S. Thomas’ hosting Isipathana – 5 July:

S. Thomas vs Isipathana

Seneshka Abishan Liyanagunawardana

The Boys in Blue & Black Claddings of S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia, sustained their usual non-stop, hi-speed, frenzied style of rugby from the first long whistle to the last, to fluster and traumatise an enthusiastic and energetic Green Machine, who did not possess a Spanner to throw at the Works of the Blue Machine. One of the key things the Thomians did in this encounter was to begin this crucial game in the same fashion, and with the same mindset as their past League matches, not reflecting the looming reality in any way whatsoever, that they were up against the Kingdom of Schools Rugby that holds the forever motto of “Never Say Die!”, quite close to their Hearts of Green. This propelled them into taking control of the game right from the start, to lead all the way until the end, in what could be termed as a “Gritty & Glorious Thomian Resurgence”.

 Nevertheless, the game was played under tremendous pressure, that led to both sides making frequent mistakes, including accidental offenses, more than usual. The Ball was kicked back and forth repeatedly and quite often, as and when the Boys from both teams could not handle the mounting pressure any more than the sheer heat of holding the oval shaped red-hot Ball. Apart from that, the Thomians were on the attack mostly, without offering much Ball possession to the visitors. However, whenever Pathana got the Ball back, combined with either tactical or territorial advantage, they mostly converted those precious possessions into points, like a professional rugby playing unit.

•  Pathana made full use of STC’s clearance kick that was kicked fully out, followed by a few penalties to score their first Try
• The “Lineout Disrupting Machine” worked its charms on the host’s lineout throw close to their 22 to regain possession and score its 2nd Try
• A ‘not rolling away’ offense close to 40m inside STC’s grid, was promptly used to maximise its return with a Try in the second half by the visitors

 Unfortunately, the Greens made some blunders, possibly due to pressure, that either forfeited the solidity of their in-goal area, or the possibility of encroaching the opposition’s.

• STC also fully capitalised on a clearance kick that went completely out, inside the Pathana half to score a Try in the former half
• Pathana’s restart kick that commenced the second half was kicked fully out, which resulted in a scrum in favour of the Thomians at 50, which they wonderfully used to score a Try. This is possibly the first occurrence of a Try scored in this fashion, in recent schools’ rugby history.
• Although the Greens professed decent Ball handling skills with only a few unforced handling errors, one of the passing errors that occurred quite close to the opposition’s 10, rolled out of the playing area. Although this cannot be deemed as a certain Try scoring chance, it certainly was a potential Try scoring onslaught.

 Isipathana was unable to return with their last-quarter green magic in this game, as the Thomians held possession, commanding dominance and kept on attacking until the very end. As the famous saying goes “Every Dog will have his day”, and ‘tis was the day of the “Underdogs”

Result: Thora serves Pathana humble Pie 36-24

Trinity hosting Royal – 5 July:

Trinity vs Royal

What was expected to be the second blockbuster game of the weekend that was kicked off up in the Hills, and on which everyone had their gaze set, turned out to be an uninteresting affair after Royal refused to turn up and play. They kept their rugby to the bare basics, their approach primitive, and resisted all temptations of exposing any of their advanced skills, just how a master Magician holds back his best tricks until his final act. However, in this case there were no tricks exhibited, as they uncharacteristically and hysterically kicked each and every penalty opportunity between the giant Sticks for petty points, underlining their desire not to expose what they could actually do with their Mauls or the Ball in hand. Ultimately the biggest losers were the schools rugby loving community of Sri Lanka, who missed out, and will miss out on an array of rampant performances by the Royal Tuskers, who are very much capable of winning the League and the Bradby, although the fraternity has been in denial.

 Trinity College played their usual attacking game, exposing some advanced skills while concealing the others for the encounters that actually need them. They kept their infringements under control, possibly owing to fresh copies of the law books being restocked in their locker rooms. In addition to their Maul defence capabilities, and the ability to turn them over, their Pack demonstrated that they are also proficient in counter hooking, in order to turn possession over at the Scrums. Trinity didn’t have to try too hard in this game, but were gifted with opportunities to score some of their Tries.

 The Royal Tuskers shined during the first half with just a solitary penalty conceded, and 3 unforced handling errors. Regrettably, the first of them occurred while they were attacking intensely close to Trinity’s 10m, advancing firmly towards the Tryline, while keeping the hosts on their Toes. The knocked Ball was subsequently picked up by the opposition to launch their counter-offensive, that took play into the Royal 10, to be then fumbled once again inside their 5m, gifting Trinity their first Try. Royal lost only 2 lineouts in this game due to poor hooking, which was not too bad; however, one of them were lost inside their 40, which Trinity used ingeniously to score a Try. These were the reasons as to why Trinity was leading 19-9 at lemons. Nevertheless, Royal’s offenses increased exponentially with time, amassing 8 penalties solely in the latter half, allowing Trinity to go on a Try hunting venture, and score 15 more points.

Result: Royal submit to Trinity 12-34

St. Peter’s hosting D.S. Senanayake - 5 July:

St. Peter's vs DS

The Donz turned up for this encounter with a predefined game plan, but the execution of some fragments and tactical planning were not up to the mark, which prevented them from reaching that ultimate points mark, despite all the worst efforts by the hosts in the last quarter.

 Donz focused on keeping their handling errors and offenses to a bare minimum, which they did quite successfully. Their strategy was not to go forward with their Backs for attacks, but to lean back on their Forwards. A possible reason for this could be either their lack of confidence in their Backline’s ability to dodge and outrun their counterparts, or what they saw last weekend at the SPC-Wesley game, convinced them that the Brigade Forwards were pushovers. Regardless of the basis for this decision, the Brigade Forwards seemed impenetrable, unless attacked quite close to their line of solitude.

Regrettably, DS wasted most of their pick and drive efforts either outside SPC’s 40 or 22, neither which enabled them to advance their gain line. They also opted to kick the Ball out of possession from time to time, without any intention whatsoever of reclaiming it, which was quite a bizarre move for a team that aspired to get into the Cup Segment. Had they only spent the last week on practicing finding touch during open play, and then contested SPC’s weak lineouts, the ending of this encounter may have drawn parallels with a fairy tale Book. Instead, they opted not to contest a majority of the lineouts regardless of where it occurred, except for a few, for reasons only known to their tactician.

 One of the visitors’ strongest suits was their Mauls, limited by the success rate of the hosts ability to disable or diffuse them. The Mauls were successfully executed to score a Try off it, and to get quite close to the Peterites’ line of prestige on other occasions, and then to be finished by other moves. Although the hosts were tightfisted and gave nothing away for free in the prior half, they probably felt morally obligated to become immoral with regard to the laws of the game, in order for them to be forthcoming towards their guests, that they offered nearly 15 penalties in the latter half. Nevertheless, the visitors were unable to use these opportunities to score enough points, while a very few of their few errors led to their misfortune.

• Two penalty touch kicks were kicked right into the hands of SPC
• A knock-on near DS 22 by the DS Scrum Half resulted in Pete’s scoring a Try off the subsequent Scrum
• An obstruction offense by DS while intensely attacking near the opposition’s 22 self-destructed their own efforts

Result:  DSS falls short to SPC on tactical planning 17-24

Dharmaraja hosting Kingswood – 5 July:

Dharmaraja vs Kingswood

This encounter was reviewed due to the curiosity stimulated by the final points tally, considering it was a clash between two sides that have qualified to distinct Segments in the final round of the League. The review revealed a few interesting things about both teams.

 Kingswood is in the process of transforming its running rugby to the next level; the level that is most cherished by the majority of school rugby lovers in Sri Lanka. However, since it was still work-in-progress, it was rusty, yet promises superfast, flamboyant, open rugby with mind blowing offloads. The rustiness caused several unforced handling errors while Kingswood was attacking at pace, but the signs were very clear that we don’t have to wait until next season to relish the excitement that Randles Hill has in store for us.

 As for Rajans, they came back strong with utmost enthusiasm and the drive to succeed after a thumping defeat last weekend at home. They had also done their homework to specifically target and disarm Kingswood’s most powerful weapon, their ‘pick ‘n drive’. They were quite clever to recognise that they cannot defeat the sheer force or technique of the visitors, but there was one thing that they could always do; invite them in, and shut the front door! In other words, the latched Randles Forwards were never refused entry at the Tryline, but were caringly escorted into the in-goal area, to be laid down gently with the Ball still caressed against their Bosoms, along with the soothing and relaxing view of the blue Sky. Rajans repeated this feat and managed to hold up 3 Tries in this fashion, if not, we would be looking at a final score of at least 42-17.

Result: Rajans held-up Kingswood to 17-27

Science hosting St. Anthony’s – 6 July:

Science vs St. Anthony's

St. Anthony’s massive defence efforts cost a ton of Calories for the Science frontline, making them heavily toil for every point they scored. Although the visitors were generous in their infringements in general, Science could only turn some of them into points, due to some outstanding defending. While effective tackling has always been their strength in the League, this time around it was their pushback defence against Science’s ‘pick n’ drives’, that has been a fruitful ploy for the home team this season.

On the contrary, Science’s defence for ‘pick ‘n drives’ was so weak, that the visitors frequently tumbled over their divine line to score 3 Tries using the skill. Although Science was remarkably conservative in their infringements, the few they committed gave them the heaviest blows. It is natural to see both teams kicking the Ball around at the beginning of the game, in order to feel each other’s pulses and until they settle down a little, and then it stops. Amusingly Science’s kicking went on for more than 5 minutes resembling a Soccer game, until the visitors decided to run the Ball with their speedsters, navigating through many slim open spaces, while occasionally using their evasive skills to open partially closed doorways to score their first gifted Try. 

 One of Science’s 3 unforced knock-ons occurred near their 10m, during the last minutes of the game that granted SACK their winning converted Try. However, the heavens did throw a lifeline to the home team just before close, with a lineout throw from breathtakingly close to the visitors’ divine line, but inopportunely the Science throw was off target for the first time in the game, depleting their chance for a last-minute victory.

 Result: Antho rumble as Science stumble 28-24 

 Footnote:

Though we love to, unfortunately we are unable to analyse all 9 games played during the weekends due to time limitations, and therefore compelled to accommodate only around 5 reviews each week.

 

(The Analyst can be reached at: [email protected])