Brian Thomas, Reporting exclusively for SriLanka sports. com.
If you were to take a pole and analyse the favourites, the answer does blow in the wind.
Speaking to Christopher Jordashe the former Thomian & CR FC captain and Sri Lanka national player, he stated that to pen down a team in chronological order is tricky because the competition looks very interesting and challenging again this year.
He stated, “Guess work in the 2025 season is an option that can come to bite you.
Isipathana winners of the Presidents trophy are right up there, followed by Trinity, St Thomas’, St Peters, Royal,Wesley, and dark horses Kingswood.
He did state Wesley and Kingswood can spoil the celebrations of any team with their talent and skills, which they exhibited in the Presidents trophy.
Same time we cannot forget sides like DS senanayake who are improving every year.
Isipathana is a gutsy unit that plays a special brand of rugby, which seems unique and hard to overcome. To beat them, the opposition must play out of their skins and for 70 mins.
It was evident their Ball handling skills, execution in line outs , rucks/drive, excellent line kicking , pick and drive to gain territory, and most importantly, line kicking to gain territory has been their forte because the green machine has the best line out specialist,who is none other than their skipper himself namely Dodangwala.
Incidently, they make minimum mistakes and hence conceed less penalties. They would need to train another reliable kicker in place of their main kicker —— who was injured & they could not pile up the points in the knockout final having an exodus of penalties in kicking range,most were fluffed .
Their area of concern is their defense at times,against the run of play which creates loop holes that opposition teams can exploit if they can run a few phases. I am sure they will address this issue. Hence, look out they can be wolves in sheep clothing in defense.
The green machine is in group 2 A. Their opponents are St Thomas’, Zahira, Dharmaraja , Kingswood, and Mahanama.
Isipathana will be tested by St Thomas’ and Kingswood. Polls state that the green machine will qualify with St Thomas’ in spot 2 and advance to the next stage, but dark horses Kingswood can upset the apple cart of both favourites for sure.
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