Rugby reigns over rain-wrecked weekend

 Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 Week 2 Tactical Analysis

Adverse weather conditions comprising of heavy downpours, coupled with occasional high winds that turning playing fields into paddy fields, attempted to mess up a weekend filled with action packed rugby, but ultimately was successful in just a few spoils only, as most of our determined schoolboys beat the weather and extreme wet conditions to showcase some exemplary rugby in front of trusting spectators who had gathered in multitudes, despite the undesirable weather. Special appreciation goes out to all the referees, touch judges and match officials who officiated exceptionally well, for well over 2 hours under pouring rains, on both days; the SL schools rugby community salutes your services!

S. Thomas’ hosting Zahira – 14 June:

A day marred by poor weather that made the turf at the big club ground soggy and slippery, neutralised some of Zahira’s venomous skills, to swing the tides in favour of the home team.

• Zahira’s impeccable long-haul touch finders were impossible on a muddy pitch where the Ball did not bounce. This was one of their core strengths to keep Ball in play inside the opposition’s 22.
• Zahira sprinters found it harder to cope with the soft Turf more than the Thomians, which held back their running attacking game, which happened to be another one of their trump cards.

Both of the above obstacles were reasonably managed well by the home team, as they knew well where the Ball would bounce along the Touchlines, and where not. They also had a sense of the most slippery areas, and avoided sprinting in those spaces whenever possible. This resulted in much superior Ball handling by the Thomians with just 4 unforced knock-ons in extreme wet conditions, which is a 50% improvement from their previous outing. In addition, the Thomians defended quite impressively against all forms of the Zahirian hazard that came at them repeatedly, especially in the prior half. One of the most menacing onslaughts by the visitors came in the form of Mauls inside the opposition’s 22, but all of them were defeated clinically, without giving away a single ‘collapsing maul’ penalty.

Zahira opted to use grubbers on some occasions, even when they had the opportunity to work the line. Unfortunately, a few of them were kicked away when they had established clear overlaps over the Thomian defenders. It felt more like the visitors’ decisions to kick, exceeding what was actually required as per the situations in this encounter. 15 violations of the game laws didn’t help Zahira’s cause either, because it seemed like they hadn’t worked on this shortcoming since their last game, as the tally had only increased this time. Cutting down ‘off side’ and ‘collapsing maul’ violations itself would halve their offense count.

Result: STC slushed Zahira 43-19 

Ananda hosting Science - 14 June:

This was a high stakes encounter that meant a great deal to both schools for distinct reasons. For Ananda, it was their first opportunity for a victory in the top division after 18 years, and against a side they hold a high esteem for. For Science, it was to safeguard its dignity by not going down to a new entrant of the upper division. Thus, the game was contested with high intensity and emotions by both teams.

After humbling the rest of the upper division by being the gleaming beacon in discipline so far this year, Science College decided to leave out the rugby law book in their locker room for this game. The accumulated 13 plus penalties, gave just the edge that Ananda required to tip them over the line in this crucial encounter, by scoring their second Try just before lemons, aided by back-to-back penalties offered by the Science lads. However, the Science Forwards made good use of Ananda’s vulnerability in defending pick ‘n drives, by continuously attacking this area, and returning with clenched fistfull of points almost every time.

The pitfall of Ananda rugby was underlined in our last week’s analysis, which was used as the primary target by Science to infiltrate, puncture and bleed out the otherwise strong Ananda defence. Pick ‘n go and goal line defences were still at the same fragile state as they were in last week, and the fact that there were no signs of any work being done to rectify these massive shortcomings, evidently reflected in their defence. However, Ananda dominated with their Mauls whenever their hooking didn’t fail them, while choking Science with 4 ‘collapsing maul’ penalties. Further, the newbies showed interesting rugby instincts which they used to capitalise on certain situations to attack and score Tries.

Result:  Ananda scrapes through 32-26

St. Anthony’s hosting St. Peter’s – 14 June:

 

The Eagles exhibited a well-planned, spirited and gutsy defence effort to restrict the mighty Rock to just 24 points. As forecasted in our preview, the Peterite sprinters were met by solid and prohibitive tackles that crippled their running game initially, and had to lean over to their Forwards for effective penetration.

Pete’s looked fresh and rigid at kick-off and never looked like they had travelled up to the Hills at all. It didn’t take too long for them to assess Antho’s ferocity in defence against their three quarters, and respectfully switch over the attacking duties to their Forwards’ pick ‘n drives. They had done their homework to cut down their offenses by a third from their last outing of 15, while also improving their Ball handling tremendously by limiting unforced errors to a third from last week’s 12. Incidentally, accomplishing the last challenging feat in extremely wet conditions was an outstanding effort!

Unfortunately, the only two unforced knock-ons by Peter’s prevented them from scoring two imminent Tries. One was knocked forward inside the in-goal area, and the second was knocked on at a Peter’s lineout throw, just 5m from the opposition’s goal line.

Other than for tackling and defending, SACK did not have anything else to show in this game. The 15 penalties that they gave away, along with 8 unforced handling errors, offered them very little chance to attack with the Ball, whilst the two yellow cards they received, further weakened their defence. In addition, they made a complete mess of their lineouts, even without much pressure induced by the opposition. To add to their dismay, a poor goal line dropout kick cost them a Try. Who can blame schoolboys for this, when even the national team has no clue as to how to execute a proper clearance kick, so that it could be safely defended?

Result: Pete’s plunged through SACK defence 24-8

Mahanama hosting Dharmaraja – 14 June:

 

Extremely poor Ball handling by Mahanama in comparison to the Rajans who played on the same underfoot conditions, and average game discipline by both sides made this game an utterly unworthy experience for the spectators in attendance. Whenever Rajans gave away penalties, Mahanama religiously knocked it forward, making scrums the order of the day. Thus, all that the spectators saw were a continuous and unending array of fouls, knock-ons and Scrums.

Up until the first Try scored by Rajans, they looked quite decent and promising. Nevertheless, soon after their first Try, they began their fouls spree and continued to do so even despite multiple warnings by the Referee. This allowed Mahanama to camp inside the visitors’ grid to attack and knock-on throughout the first half. Although Rajans managed to curtail their penalty count from 9 to 5 in the second half, they commenced dropping the Ball without being even compelled on 6 occasions in the latter half, that allowed the hosts to yet again, remain at the visitors’ front yard throughout that half as well.

Mahanama choked nearly 15 unforced handling errors, versus an average 6 by Rajans in the entire game, that deprived them from scoring at least double the points than what they managed to score in this game. However, their powerful Forwards dominated the Scrums and Mauls over their counterparts, and clearly exhibited where their strength lies.

Result: Mahanama mauled Rajans 15-5 

Kingswood hosting Isipathana - 15 June:

 

Knowing very well that their defence is not as sturdy as the visitors’, untamed Kingswood College Kandy infringed amassing 14 penalties, and kicked away Ball possession throughout the game, to handover victory to Isipathana on a silver Platter, making all those months of hard labour at practice sessions, more or less irrelevant. Having the ability to run the Ball from inside their own 10m and score, the last thing one should do is send out invites to the Greens to one’s own territory, which is synonymous to ‘inviting trouble’. This was exactly what Kingswood did to throw away a game that was otherwise theirs.

Three of the Tries Isipathana scored were directly off Kingswood offenses.

• Kingwood gave away 2 ‘sealing the Ball’ penalties in their own grid, and Pathana scored through one of them, just before half time
• A Kingswood player’s carefree ‘side entry’ offense inside own territory, allowed the visitors to score their first Try in the second half
• Finally, an array of back-to-back penalties by the hosts left no other choice for Isipathana, but to accept the hosts’ persuasive invitation to score their second Try in the last half

Nevertheless, both teams also created their own opportunities to score Tries that were immensely wonderful sights to watch, as opposed to seeing teams score Tries off each other’s voluntary mistakes and involuntary errors. The Greens scored their first and last Tries by creating overlaps in the corners. In addition, the solitary 50-22 accomplished by both sides at the opposition’s 5m, earned both of them Tries.

As Kingwood came back into the game trailing 22-27 with approximately 5 minutes to go, they still opted to kick possession away, instead of using the Ball to score a Try in an attempt to at least equalise. This shows lack of maturity in the Kingwood camp, but one could only hope that they would learn from these experiences this season, to be able to rise to the top to play at the same level as the elite teams next year.

Result:  Kingwood kicks the game away 22-32

D.S. Senanayake hosting Wesley – 15 June:

 

It appeared that the double blue thunder was way too much for DS to cope with, as they were brick walled from scoring, despite continuous valiant efforts by the hosts to breach a tough Wesley Fortress. The DS Forwards were no match for their counterparts in spite of their refined pick ‘n drive and mauling techniques that disallowed them from crossing the double blue line of prestige, as often as they crossed the 5-meter line. Wesley’s Maul defence was top notch as they defeated numerous Maul offensives launched by the hosts, which also depleted the latter over time.

DS did not look like the positive and forceful outfit who took to the field last weekend, as they lacked in showing motivation and drive during the prior half, and appeared rather overwhelmed by the physical outlook and body language of the Wesleyites. Not being able to flawlessly clear the Ball out from their 5m just like our national team, and conceding back-to-back careless penalties, viz. side entry and offside, were carefree blunders that DS made in the first half that cost them 14 points. Furthermore, the DS Forwards could not hold back their counterparts from mauling them over their line of prestige as well. To make matters even worse for DS, their place kicking was kicked out of the window, as they missed two simple penalty kicks, that possibly discouraged them from taking on more penalty kicks, which they could have used to pile points on with.

Thereafter, DS spent what felt like almost their lifetime in this game, trying to recover the 14 points they gave away as welcome gifts to the visitors. Unfortunately, the visitors’ defence was not as patronising as the hosts’ was, as DS was put through extreme hard labour throughout the game for minimum wages in return.

Wesley was clearly the overpowering side in this game, but they defended illegally during most part of the game inside their 10, although they really didn’t have to. Amassing nearly 25 penalties including advantage played, opposite a mere 7 DS fouls tally doesn’t seem fair, and certainly not in line with the spirit of the game. Wesley College Rugby should carefully consider the path they wish to take to their stardom, at least in the 2025 League.

 

Result: Wesley overpower DSS 29-10

 

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.

Pix Courtesy: Papare.lk