Teams hunting for plate and bowl in schools league rugby read our win predictor. With Christopher Jordash
By Brian Thomas Reporting exclusively for SriLanka sports.com Edited by Christopher Jordashe.
Thurstan 48 % Vidyartha 52% @ Sugathadasa stadium on 04 July.
Thurstan and Vidyartha slotted into group 3 had their woes against bigger teams namely Royal and Trinity , but Vidyartha got Royal and St Joseph’s hopping a bit , guess Trinity were too good , but what hurts them most is their loss to Sumangala for the first time ever.
Thurstan still need a win , Top tier sides like Royal and Trinity were too hot for thurstan , but they kept the Trinitians from dictating terms to them in the second half , against the Joes Thurstan proved they belong in this group, even though St Joseph’s won , but come Friday Thurstan can win because Vidyartha might be jaded doing two trips to Colombo on the trot.
Vidyartha impressed against Royal last week , forwards defended extremely well , their back line must do the hard yards in other words use the skill levels to the maximum because Thurstan seem vulnerable in line defense
Thurstan even though a shade lower in our win prediction , must use their forwards to gain territorial advantage and use the three-quarters line when in attack , because Thurstan is blessed with an excellent 2nd centre who is a play maker , who has the skill level to break the tigers defense in the back three.
All roads will lead to the Sugathadasa stadium on Friday since this game is the only match in the schools league on Friday.
St Joseph’s 52 % Sumangala 48 % @ Longdon place on 05 July.
This will be a very tight game, but Joes have the edge since its home turf for their heavy forwards against Sumangala, who in hindsight, might rattle the home team.
Josephians need their heavy forwards to pick and go as they have proved effective in many games. They were competitive against Royal and Trinity, although they lost mainly due to superiority. The bleeding point is their defense that let them down against Vidyartha which cost them from winning up in Kandy, but they did well to draw the game. The saints had an easy passage against Thurstan, but Sumangala will be a different kettle of fish.
The Kandy boys Sri Sumangala were thumped by Royal and Trinity, beat Vidyar,tha their home team rivals thanks to an excellent display by their forwards, and last week , had Thurstan huffing and puffing in the second half despite being led at Lemons. What Sumangala needs is self belief, they must feed the three-quarters because Josephians lack that momentum when their three quarter defense is tested in phase moves. Basically, Sumangala can upset the apple cart . The consolation both Joes and Sumangala have is that both have secured a place in the plate segment.
Zahira 55% Mahanama 45 % on 5th July @ Maradana.
This game will decide the team that goes into the plate championship and the loser bowing out to the bowl.
Zahira definitely has the edge on home soil because they have been very impressive in forwards play , rucks and mauls have been excellent, and they have proven this capability against Isipathana last week .
Maradana lads were a shade unlucky throwing in the towel against Kingswood, but no excuses, at this level focus is a prerequisite for 70 minutes.
The Thomians gave them a hard time at Mount Lavinia that was envisaged, Zahira had to cope with the Thomian grit in Thomian breezy territory. The feature of Zahira in this league, was the thumping they gave Dharmaraja at Maradana. Great game it was indeed.
Mahanama is a talented but mixed bag. They put on a show against Isipathana, and shell shocked the vast green machine supporters , stamping their name” we have come to play and not to participate”. Guess the Thomians too were made to grind a bit, but Mahanama must be given credit for holding the Thomian forwards in those attacking Phases . Sadly, they lost after conceeding 50 points to 35 , but their feature was crossing the Thomian line 5 times.
Conclusion these Mahanama lads can play Rugby and can create upsets very soon as the brand of rugby they play is formidable. Mahanama had a great outing against Dharmaraja Kandy. Beat the Kandy team in Muddy underfoot conditions that was definitely a breath of fresh air.
Basically if Mahanama can avoid forced errors, control their infringements , and use their mobile pack to suck in the tankers, we can anticipate a very close nail biting contest.
Kingswood 60 % Dharmaraja 40 % on 5th July at Bogambara.
We generally expose a teams strengths or weaknesses in their past games and make certain predictions but our readership, has the right to comment, agree or disagree because opinions can differ.
Dharmaraja are on a blow hot blow cold zone and they simply crumbled at the hands of the Thomians in Nittawela .
The defeat in their own backyard had such a bearing that experts came to a conclusion that Dharmaraja and their second half flourish against Isipathana could be a flash in the pan.
The Zahira thumping started it all , hence going there will only increases Kingswoods win predictor meter.
One of the most unfortunate teams this season is Kingswood. Supper account of themselves against the might of the Thomians losing that game by just 2 points , beating Zahira in Maradana with two back to back tries by the blue Jerseys hard working forwards, their brilliant open rugby played against Mahanama up in Kandy registering a 27 points to 17 resulted in a comprehensive win , Kingswood are a competent outfit and cannot be written off.
Science 55 % St Anthony’s 45 % on 5th July @ Mount Lavinia.
Definitely a tester for the Anthonians who travel down to Colombo, and play against a new look Science College team , who nearly choked St Peters in their outing and even earned themselves a losers bonus point but sadly started their season playing against Wesley upfront and were beaten by 35 points to 10. Science College performed well against the DONS , lost by 36 points to 29 , after leading 15 points to 12 at the breather. The Mount boys also had a close game against Ananda , bottom line score did crunch their confidence a bit , a 32 points to 26 loss , against a team promoted from B division had its toll on the Mount Lavinia lads.
St Anthony’s sadly have nothing much to write home about. They seem guilty at the fringes, the three-quarter line has been running sideways , and their performance against Ananda College in the second half indicated the cracks they have in defence. They were undone by Wesley fair enough, looked impressive against defending champions St Peters who themselves are under the pump. However Science college and St Anthony’s have no way but play in the bowl segment after this weeks show down.
I am sure they will play for pride .
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