Plate still hunted by Trinity

The trio consisting of DSS, Joes, and Kingswood are still in the open hunt for the Plate Title, as they stand with 23, 20 and 18 points respectively. Two crucial Plate encounters in the last week of the League shall determine the winners. If DS could overcome the Kingswood hurdle in Colombo next weekend, then they are guaranteed to grab the Plate regardless of the outcome of the other encounter, as the plot thickens in the heated Plate Segment of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025.

DS vs St. Joseph

St. Joseph’s hosting D.S. Senanayake - 3 Aug:

It was a typical scenario of a classic dogfight that transpired on ground instead of air, consisting of an array of Tries damaging each other, that was primarily fuelled by total indiscipline, initially by DS and then followed suit by Joes. However, the Ball handling of both teams was quite impressive, when compared to the utter uncivil and lawless state of rugby that was demonstrated by both teams.

 Joes started off proceedings powerfully with their usual dominating mindset, by bulldozing through the DS defence to score their first Try, further aided by two offenses by the visitors. Then a full out clearance kick by the visitors, offers Joes a scrum on DS 22, offering them the opportunity to ram through the defence once again to score yet another Try. Thereafter, all the Tries scored by both teams were through penalties awarded for infringements.

 Although DS conceded almost double the number of penalties as Joes, the few handling errors and a lost lineout by Joes prevented them from scoring any further. In addition, offenses committed while attacking inside the opposition’s 40, halted the progress of both teams as well, stalemating them at 15 at the break.

 While the Saints were on a comfortable lead after doing all the hard work, they simply invited trouble by downgrading to an unsaintly game of rugby, combined by the fact that they were totally unable to defend the DS Rolling Mauls. In one instance, the DS Rolling Maul that was initiated at 50m, was driven all the way to Joes 10, while the defenders continuously committed ‘side entry’ offenses.

 As we compared the past performances of the Forwards’ Try scoring capabilities of both teams in our forecast, let's now compare as to how they did against each other.

 A fatigued Joes Pack was mauled tactically in the second half, for the clever DS Forwards to come away with 3 Tries, and thereby snatching victory in the last minute of the game.

 Result:  DS mauls Joes out 37-36

Zahira celebrates victory against Ananda

 Ananda hosting Zahira – 2 Aug:

It was yet another case of a law avoiding game of rugby, as opposed to a law abiding one, that allowed both teams to score off each other’s guilt’s, hence whoever was able to defend better was set to come out on top, but then no one expected the unusual yellow card factor.

 Since the person who handled the Camera for this game is likely to be a 10-year-old, and the associated Technicians were possibly his or her playmates, the focus of the Lenses was often panned away from the action or the Referee, with frequent short, long and extremely long blackouts were caused in addition. Owing to this, the stats collected are far from accurate to be presented here. However, we can base this analysis based on some minimum figures.

 The number of offenses in the former half was almost similar between the two sides, while Ananda’s Ball handling was far better than that of the visitors’, who fumbled at least 4 times in that half without being provoked. The two additional fumbles that were forced by Ananda tackles made Zahira’s Ball handling look pretty ordinary. However, despite these drawbacks, the visitors tackled and defended reasonably well and milked a few ‘holding on’ offenses to halt Ananda’s onslaughts inside their 40.

 Zahira’s Ball handling improved in the latter half, but their mischief increased as usual, giving the hosts plenty of chances to score via penalties. However, soon after the prolonged back out ended on the live feed, the Referee was seen showing a yellow card to an Anandian, who jogged away to join two more of his teammates who were already sitting on naughty Chairs! As the Camera panned away once again, the viewers could only assume that he had to sit on one of their Laps, as provision is seldom made for more than two Chairs. 

 Although a team receiving 3 cards in the same game is not unusual, a team receiving 3 cards all at the same time is extremely bizarre, and calls for immediate counselling for the Ananda rugby team, as they were seen doing some things only 2-year-olds would do. For instance, when the Referee blew the whistle for a ‘holding on’ offense against Ananda, the tackled Ball carrier who was still lying on the floor, refused to release the Ball even further, possibly mumbling the words “MINE! MINE!!”, which provoked the Officiator to advance the mark by 10 meters, to the total delight of the Zahirians who ‘quick tapped’ in a flash and scored a Try off it. Hence in hindsight, if expert counselling cannot be arranged within the week, then a special dugout should be provisioned to serve as Ananda’s exclusive sinbin at their next game.

 Result: Ananda benched by 3 yellows 39-43

Sri Sumangala vs Kingswood

Sri Sumangala hosting Kingswood – 3 Aug:

It was quite resounding to finally watch a Plate Segment game that demonstrated some maturity, control and composition, at least throughout the opening half. Both teams attempted to dominate each other, but failed to finish their offensives mostly due to own blunders, such as ‘holding on’. Some blunders were owing to wet and underfoot conditions, nevertheless it didn’t stop sprinters from both sides to take the Field on, and in quite an unblemished fashion as well.

Although Kingswood performed better with the Ball, as well as the laws in the former half, some of their blunders cost them Tries.

• A fumble of the ball close to their own 22 at the inception itself, followed by a lineout throw by Kingswood that was hooked off target and knocked forward, lead to the hosts scoring their maiden Try, that was effectively finished off with pick and drives.
•  Then later, a poor clearance kick by Kingswood, further aided by a penalty, offered Summa a chance to score another Try
• Finally, a cross-kick that went wrong, gifted the chance for the hosts to run the Ball, all the way from inside their 40m, to score a brilliant and spectacular Try

 Nevertheless, Sri Sumangala was unable to score any more Tries beyond half time.

 While the total transfers in possession are comparable, Summa missed two touch finders off penalty opportunities, which inadvertently reduced Kingswood’s penalty count to 5 in the latter half, offering them an extra edge on attacks. It must be noted that Kingswood was also able to defend onslaughts following the penalties that were conceded inside their half, except for the one instance that was noted above.

 In addition to the net penalty edge offered to the visitors, the hosts made some blunders on their own that cost them a few Tries.

 nSumma passed directly to an opposition player in the first half, that costed them a Try

nA knock forward close to their 35m at a restart kick, and a proceeding offside offense helped Kingwood on their way to a Try

nFinally, the visitors scored their last Try also off a Summa knock forward that occurred near the hosts’ 35m

 To add icing on the Cake, Kingswood scored a Try through a 50-22 executed after quite a while. In fact, this was their first 50-22 accomplished since their Mahanama game. It is also noteworthy that Kingwood’s Ball stealing skills milked 5 ‘holding on’ penalties from their underprepared opposition, who lagged behind on support play.

 Result: Summa stray in second half 22-34

 

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

Pix courtesy thepaparelanka.com