Tight tussle in Group 2 to enter Cup and Plate segments

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Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 – Week 3 Tactical Forecast

As we step into week 3, we do have a handful of key matches with some of them set to walk the Tightropes, and therefore are in for another weekend of some intense rugby. Unfortunately, two could-have-been-good encounters are highly likely to be one-sided games, with little chance for the underdogs to do damage control, hence we had to skip the forecasts for Anthonians vs Wesley, and Royal vs Joes games. Although we forecasted SACK to stand up to the Pete’s last week by not letting them run away with the game, regrettably it is not deemed to repeat this weekend against Wesley, unless Saliya has hidden some BIG things for this encounter.

Mahanama vs S. Thomas’ at Air Force Ground on 21 June:

The new entrants who took the breath out of the Green Machine more than briefly, are now all set to unleash their rugby prowess against the much-fancied Thomian outfit on a bid to shove back the half-closed door, in an attempt to enter the Cup Segment of the League.

Shoving is what they would relish doing with their mighty Pack, opting to mobilise their Mauls more often than their scrums, due to the risk factor of free kicks being awarded in case the scrum moves back more than 1.5 meters, as per the U19 laws of rugby. Therefore, they are expected to either kick to touch for territory, or kick into random open spaces in order to test the catching skills of the Thomians, and then launch either their Maul or Scrum offensives, depending on whether it’s a touch or a knock-on respectively, from inside the Thomian 40. It would be quite interesting to find out if their counterparts can hold them off, or diffuse them completely as they successfully did against Zahira Mauls last weekend. On the contrary, Mahanama will not be shy to work their backline as well, but are likely to shy away from 3-point kicks to goal, as they are more determined to go for a Thora kill.

Although the Thomians did a fantastic job earlier in defending on a soaked pitch that made attackers’ movements sluggish enough for easy defence reformations and tackling, the Mahanamians may become a handful in case the condition happens to be dry on Saturday, in which case it would serve as an ideal reactive speed test for the STC tacklers against the fluent Mahanama three quarters, before their big game against Isipathana on week 5.

Zahira vs Kingswood at Zahira Ground on 21 June:

After succumbing twice, the pressure to make it to the Plate Segment is now paramount for Kingswood, and they shall be all out to grab their first win of the season this Saturday. Likewise, having lost one to the weather, the Zahirians would be pumped up playing in their own backyard, and strive for a win in order to defend their pride in front of the home crowd. A dry Saturday evening shall guarantee a thrilling neck-to-neck fight, with all the glorious elements of rugby that we love, transpiring in front of our eyes.

To recap Kingswood’s sudden resurrection into mainstream rugby, and where they are at now – their maiden appearance this season was a shocking comeback that showcased promising all-round, well balanced rugby skills in all departments of the game, but required a bit of polishing. Their high penalty count, especially during the last minutes, cost them the game at the Knockouts. Though they managed to curtail their fouls in their first League game against STC, they failed to execute their highly penetrative ‘pick ‘n drives’ without knocking the Ball forward at crucial junctures, which made them fall short again. Just last week, they went overboard with the penalties again, making it easier for Pathana to pull ahead. During all these games, their rugby skills were still good enough to get them wins, even against the elite teams. Accordingly, what they might actually end up doing on Saturday shall determine their fate this time as well.

The Zahira Pack struggled to cope with the Thomian Maul attacks last weekend giving away two ‘collapsing maul’ penalties. The Kingswood Pack is stronger than the Thomians’, thus Zahira would have to come up with a solid and flawless defence mechanism to counter and defuse the Kingswood Mauls. Unlike ‘pick ‘n drives’ that are carried out slowly and steadily in phases that takes time, Maul offensives are quick, painless and doesn’t offer much time to react, and therefore the primary focus area should be this, while defending ‘pick ‘n drives’ should be the second most priority. The infiltration capabilities of the Backline of both teams are more or less parallel, yet Zahira possesses the cutting-edge skill on executing perfected cross kicks that accurately target and find the paths of their Wingers. In addition, Zahira has a proven track record of better decision-making midgame, compared to Kingwood at the League games.

St. Peter’s vs Science at SPC Ground on 21 June:

Science College pulled a new trick out of their bag to surprise and stun newbies Ananda with their Forwards attack, especially with Pick and Drives. However, this trick may not work with the Brigade as they are pretty much the best-in-class, when it comes to this particular defending skill. Hence, the Science Forwards could try out their Maul offensives against the Brigade, as the latter looked absolutely clueless and helpless defending it against Ananda, for the first time in many years. But since SPC has only one more week before they meet the thundering Wesley Pack, they have no choice but to have worked on this high-risk shortcoming during the past week, so that they could test its resilience this week. Consequently, we can look forward to this little battle which could be the only edge that Science may have over the Bamba Brigade, but their chances will be cut short because the latter gave away only 3 penalties in their own half last week, and therefore Science may require a few 50-22s to make things happen.

Ananda vs D.S. Senanayake at Ananda Rugby Ground on 22 June:

Ananda College celebrated its first victory at the top division after 18 long years just last weekend, and shall be adamant to continue its winning streak this week as well. However, there is one, huge missing piece, in order to make their game complete, but more importantly secure. Even though Ananda excelled in defence tackling the SPC three quarters well enough to raise a few eyebrows, their ‘pick ‘n drive’ defence, especially at the goal line was comparable to paper Ducks squatting in a row. It wouldn’t require the colossal Wesley Forwards to knock them back, but a few sturdy Wingers could do the trick. Nonetheless, there were no signs of this massive shortcoming being addressed up until the last game, hence it is unlikely to be rectified within the next 5 days of practice either.

While the abilities of the Backs of both sides may be somewhat similar in offence and defence, and the sway in strength of the respective Maul powers is yet to be revealed, the aforementioned dire weakness would be a massive setback for Ananda. Although DS could not defend the Wesley Mauls, they are likely to do much better against Ananda, and if they do, then the home team may run out of options to score enough, to make up for the points that they shall bleed owing to the above stumbling block.

Footnote:

Though we love to, unfortunately we are unable to preview all 9 games to be played each weekend due to time limitations, and therefore are compelled to accommodate only around 4 forecasts each week.

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

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Tight tussle in Group 2 to enter Cup and Plate segments

Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 – Week 3 Tactical Forecast

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