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Script by Brian Thomas
Analyst cum editor Christopher Jordashe
Third eye: Tony Amit
STC 51% SPC 49%
Win predictor tilts towards the Thomians, in spite of their lack of discipline against Trinity and sadly not playing up to their true potential. Whilst Peterites tilt a shade down due to lack of defence and zero goal-kicking prowess that paid no dividends in their last outing.
There lies a mystery around the Thomian camp, after the tears have subsided, of why they could not maintain their unbeaten record this season. Trinity, no doubt, was far superior in all facets of the game.
Was it complacency after their win against Isipathana and the added pressure on the Thomians being tagged as favourites? It is difficult to fathom how St Thomas lost so much possession in the lineouts, counter rucks, and dropped passes, which is appalling to state the least. The line kicking, too, was not the best on the day.
What is the mystery? They won possession against lineout specialist Dodangwala and his green machines, who are sublime in lineouts, but lost 7 throw-ins against Trinity, who had a shorter lineout jumper in comparison to the tall Dodangwala of Isipathana. They could not rectify this flaw throughout the game, but Trinity had excellent lifting skills, although they used a lighter forward.
Mystery number 2: How come they lost three turnover balls to the opposition in rucks, whilst the week before, the rucking and the pick-and-drives by the strong forwards were excellent, which won them the game against Isipathana? In contrast, against Trinity, they were totally off colour and let their forwards dictate terms. Why? Answer: Mystery.
Under attack in the red zone for 20 minutes on the trot, and in the second half, they never tried to gain territorial advantage by their deep kicking but practically played in their own territory, with a mindset of not kicking and giving away possession to Trinity.
Shan Altaf at fullback used every opportunity to run and create phases to score, but Thomians felt kicking to him would result in a possible counter-attack as the Lions made many inroads with their deceptive running.
Unless otherwise, S.Thomas rectifies their glaring mistakes this week with their coaches, support staff, analyst, Sanath Martis, and his improving Peterites will run away with the win despite the home team playing with a slight advantage and kicking against the crosswind at Big Clubs.
Peterites know very well that Thomians have learnt a bitter lesson. Based on this, they will try to breach the Thomian defence and feed their three-quarter line by taking advantage of the lack of confidence in the Thomian forwards by counter-attacking them.
The Thomians will throw caution to the wind by using their strong forwards and create opportunities using their playmaker Bulathsinghala and his three-quarters to create the phases because Peterites’ defence more often than not presses the slumber mode in breakdowns.
Peterites know that any unforced error will be costly because Thomians are very dangerous with a good ball. If Peterites lack in defence, the Thomians will use their heavier forwards to pick and drive, which will open the visitors’ floodgates, which STC will exploit.
Sanath Martis knows the Thomians’ playmakers Bulathsinghala, Liyanagunawardena and Dias in the backline, and Karunaratne, the heavy mobile number 8. Will SPC target them in a similar fashion to the Trinitians?
Thomians know Senuka Dinsara is the Peterites’ playmaker fullback, who has attacking potential. He will be a marked man.
Thomians may have learnt a lot from their loss to Trinity and the pace they played the game, whilst SPC hopefully learnt from Royal. In fact, they defended the Reid Avenue rolling maul to near perfection, although Royal scored off them as well.
Interesting battle had the Peterites’ defence been like Trinity or Wesley. The win predictor definitely would have a different reading.
Look at Tony Amit, our valuable third eye.
STC 52% SPC 48%
He stated home advantage and the Thomians envisaged not making the same mistakes again because once bitten, twice shy policy will be in force for sure, with controlled over intent and fewer infringements. If adhered to, this can see the Thomians through against Peterites under the pump with two losses.
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