St. Joseph’s College will come under the microscope today in Kandy where they will be hosted by Trinity College in their inter-school League rugby match at Pallekele.
The Joes after many years raised their rugby standard to a peak level last season to win the Knock-Out title after meeting Isipathana in the final and this year they will be the team that many followers many want to watch as they sport more new faces in the blue-striped jersey.
Should they play to their potential, the Joes could come off as winners against Trinity who struggled to get their act together against St. Anthony’s College last week.
Experts can base their analysis of both teams going by the fact that Trinity managed to save face with a lucky try in the final minute against St. Anthony’s to win 15-11 while the Joes made merry and feasted on S. Thomas’ College to rip off a 33-10 win at their respective outings last week.
The Joes are known to play some fine running rugby and are considered as one of the favourites for the title which literally has never been theirs and winning the Knock-Out prize last year may have marked a turning point in the annals of their rugby.
In another contest that could take top billing Royal College will play against St. Anthony’s College at Nittawela today. Royal pulled off a rousing 29-3 win over Kingswood College in their opening match last week and are expected to meet stiff opposition today against the Antonians who the experts say have raised their standard this season. Taking on the fancied Trinity College in their opening match, the Antonians led the game 11-10 until the final minute of play and were extremely unlucky to lose. Today the Antonians have an opportunity to prove they are no pushovers which could make the contest a match not to be missed by their supporters.
Overall both Royal and St. Anthony’s can boast of an equally balanced set of forwards while their respective back-lines can display swift runners who can break through the defences.
The onus will mostly rest on Royal to prove their forwards can match up to any attack as they did against Kingswood last week when they thwarted many a scoring move a few feet away from the try-line. In another League match on Sunday in Kandy, Kingswood College hosts S. Thomas’ College at Bogambara and the home team is expected to take the field as the better outfit while the Thomians look to mend fortunes after a 33-10 thrashing at the hands of St. Joseph’s College in their opening match last Monday. Kingswood have already showed signs of promise which means the Thomians will have plenty of homework to do.
Colombo will host two more League matches today when St. Peter’s College take on Wesley College at Havelock Park and Isipathana College meet Dharmaraja College at the Royal Sports Complex.
Wesley and Dharmaraja come out for the first time and meet their opponents who won both their opening matches last week. The Peterites virtually crushed Zahira College 49-12 while Isipathana had a narrow shave against DS Senanayake College before winning 25-24.
The Peterites though, cannot take Wesley for granted and will need to play the way they did in their first game while Isipathana will need to buckle up against an unpredictable Dharmaraja who won the title in 2013.