Sports
Schoolboy aggression and Shahid Zumri’s rugby show for Isipatana
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Isipatana College proved to be top contenders for the inter-school league rugby title on yet another occasion when they demolished D.S. Senanayake College with a smashing 22-6 win at Havelock Park last week. The Green Shirts are playing cohesive rugby and promising the quality of a club game each time they take to the field. We are seeing school rugby being played very competitively and much money is invested each season to ensure that the players get the best facilities to be involved in the game; hence the quality of rugby we see.
But in this league featuring schoolboys one must remember or keep in mind that the coaches are dealing with children and there are limits and also boundaries where expectations and aggression can or should reach. In the match against Isipatana and D.S. Senanayake (DSS) the referee was heard telling both captains more than once that aggression must be controlled. He was heard adding “if you cannot do it as captains I then know how to control them”. A captain must have the ability within to control his players and it must be taken note of that a captain’s role is not complete just by dazzling in the slot he is played in.
The player to watch in the Isipatana camp was centre Shahid Zumri. He produced a wonderful try in the first half with a scintillating run through the DSS defence and in the second half fed a try which many rugby fans haven’t seen in many years. At a time when rugby is more a game of brawn than skill it was welcoming to see Zumri making a break and then doing a flip pass in Fiji style in the process of offloading the ball and then having a hand again in the try in another feeding move. So in other words he had the ball in his hands twice before the try was produced and didn’t show any selfishness in trying to go over the line himself. The only little setback for the winners was kicker Rinesh Silva having kept his kicking boots at home; the place kicker missing three conversions and an attempt at converting a penalty. Those kicks if they were accurate would have swelled the score line. DSS played well but playing anything less than your best against a team like Isipatana can spell disaster; the final score line suggests that.
Isipatana’s Shahid Zumri (right) encounters
aggression from a D.S. Senanayake player
while returning after scoring his team’s
second try in a Division 1 Segment A rugby
match of the inter-school under 19 league
rugby tournament played at Havelock Park.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
The other game that produced breathtaking moments was the one between Wesley and St. Anthony’s played in Colombo where the lads from Katugastota pulled off a thriller. Any high-scoring game entertains no doubt but what can be said about defence? Both teams must work on tackling.
But leave that aspect of the game aside the Anthonians had the edge in the second half and many thought deserved to win. The man who spearheaded the win was skipper Sahan Keerthisiri who marveled everyone with his kicking skills. He tested the Wesley defence with his up and unders and kicks to touch and slotted in a penalty from a distance of 52 metres in the second half to put his team in front at a time when Wesley were leading 22-20. Mention must be made of St. Anthony’s College back line players Tyrone Mariyadas and Ravindu Welagedara for scoring brilliant tries, the former in the first and the latter in the second. These tries really rattled the Wesley team.
But Wesley was not in the mood to cave in and produced tries through Abdullah Sideek (2), Kaizer Lye (1), C. Nimsara (1) while Abdul Haadhi converted three tries and knocked over a penalty.
Another team that is showing all the makings of striking gold this season is Royal College which did well to down Zahira College 44-3 in Colombo. Royal opened out in the second half and raked in six tries and also earned two penalties. Four converted conversions also added to the final Royal score line. As for Zahira it was a first half game and they had no answer when Royal opened the floodgates on them in the second session of the game.
The other teams which produced wins in the fourth week of the tournament were St. Peter’s, Vidyartha and St. Joseph’s, which outplayed Kingswood in Kandy by 48 points to 15. Skipper Navin Marasinghe produced a hat-trick of tries which helped post his side’s first win this season.
Corbin Bosch has been served legal notice by the PCB, alleging breach of contractual obligations, after the South Africa allrounder signed for Mumbai Indians for IPL 2025, thus pulling out of PSL 2025.
This season is the first in which the PSL will be played concurrently with the IPL: The IPL will run from March 22 to May 25, and the PSL from April 11 to May 18. Bosch had been picked by Peshawar Zalmi, in the diamond category, at the PSL draft that was held in January. But on March 8, it was announced by Mumbai Indians that he would be replacing the injured Lizaad Williams in their squad.
The PSL franchises have been keen to take some sort of action on Bosch, as they are worried it could set a precedent for players signing up with the PSL but then switching to the IPL. The idea of an outright ban on such players has also been floated in informal discussions.
A PCB statement said: “The legal notice was served through his agent, and the player has been asked to justify his actions of withdrawing from his professional and contractual commitments. The PCB management has also outlined the repercussions of his departure from the league and expects his response within the stipulated time frame. The PCB will not make any further comments on the matter.”
The statement did not specify what the time frame was for Bosch to respond.
The PCB had shifted the PSL window with a view to improve the quality and availability of overseas players whom the league would be able to sign. When the PSL was in the February-March window, it also had to compete with the SA20, ILT20 and the BPL for players. ESPN Cricinfo had reported last year when the window was changed that holding the PSL draft after the IPL auction had also been discussed, to have greater clarity about the availability of overseas players for the league. Leading into this season, the IPL auction was held in November 2024 and the PSL draft in January 2025.
The PSL draft duly attracted a large number of high-profile players, including David Warner, Daryl Mitchell, Jason Holder, Rassie van der Dussen and Kane Williamson.
[Cricinfo]
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Kandy Sports Club crowned themselves as ‘Cup Championship’ winners in the inter-club league rugby tournament when they overcame their final hurdle by beating Havelocks Sports Club by 50 points to 24 at Nittawela last evening.
Kandy SC was anyway assured of the title this season before this final game of the season even began, given that they were unbeaten thus far in the league tournament. Kandy SC collected their points through seven tries, six conversions and a penalty while Havelocks Sports Club responded with a three converted tries and a penalty.
Kandy SC set the pace for the game from the kick off itself and recorded first half tries through Dinal Ekanayake, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Kenula Hettiarachchi and Dahan Wickremaarachchi and all four conversions were slotted in by Tharinda Ratwatte. Havelocks SC got most of their points in the first half through Sandesh Jayawickreme who scored a try and booted through a conversion. The penalty for the Park Club was kicked right by Samuel Maduwantha.
Kandy SC faced some resistance from Havies after the turn around, but the side from Nittawela found the try line by breaking through a barrage of tackles from the men wearing the pink and chocolate jerseys.
Dahan Wickremaarachchi started the ball rolling for Kandy with a try after the turn around which took the side’s score to 38 with the conversion. Havies played in patches thereafter and scored through Jayathu Rajaratne and Janidu Fernando. Jayawickreme was spot on with the conversions.
Kandy’s Ethen Schneider Loos smashed his way through for the side’s sixth try which was converted by Ratwatte. Kandy had the game in the bag despite Havies playing attacking rugby whenever they had possession. But the score line deference that Kandy maintained throughout the game made it hard for Havies to make a real comeback into the game.
The Nittwala side erupted in jubilation when Ekanayake punted ahead and sent crowd favourite Nigel Ratwatte for the seventh and final try. There was speculation throughout the game that this would be Nigel’s final game for the Kandy SC side. Surprisingly Tharinda missed the conversion.
At the awards presentation ceremony after the game, Kandy Sports Club’s Tharinda Ratwatte was named as the highest points scorer for the 2024/25 league rugby season. He has accumulated 139 points this season.
Havelocks Sports produced the highest try scorer for the season. That award went to Jayathu Rajaratne of Havies. He has had 16 touchdowns this season. Havelocks Sports Club had to be satisfied with the runners-up trophy at the awards presentation. Players from both sides including the coaching staff were presented with medals by the organisers of the tournament.
Meanwhile CR&FC did well in their last outing in the Cup Championship segment of the league tournament when they beat Air Force by 31 points to 16 at Longden Place.
In the two Plate Segment matches, Sri Lanka Navy beat Sri Lions by 41 points to 38 at Race Course.In the other match of the Plate segment, Police SC beat Army SC by 24 points to 17. The match was played at Police Park.
Mutthusami Sivarajan and Rasara Wijesuriya won the men’s and women’s Cross Country Championships of the National Sports Festival conducted in Nuwara Eliya.
Sivarajan representing Central Province returned a time of 34 minutes and 21 seconds to finish ahead of Samantha Pushpakumara and Damith Hemantha Kumara.
In the women’s category, Wijesuriya from Eastern Province clocked 38 minutes and 41 seconds finish ahead of Madhushani Herath and Chamini Herath.
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