It’s a forwards battle for the title: Underdogs Royal out to surprise Isipathana

Isipathana College and Royal College Colombo will feature in the Milo Inter-schools Division 1 President trophy knockout rugby tournament final at the Racecourse International Stadium, Reid Avenue at 4.30 pm today.

The Royalist has brought in former full back Ovin Askey to play in the pivotal position of fly half at the expense of Lenox Calyanaratne who is expected to play in the second half if needed and will most probably play in his pet position as centre.

In the pack, former hooker Hamza Reeza will play as number eight alongside their flankers Maleesha Madumewan and Pasindu Amarasinghe in the third row. Captain and number eight Nikhila Gunadheera has been moved up to the front row to bind down with Ayesh Maduranga and hooker Ashmir Fajudeen.

The forte of both teams has been their power-packed forwards. The Royal ‘eight’ especially Ayesh Maduranga, Azmir Fajudeen, Harith Lokugamage, Hamza Reeza, Pasindu Amarasinghe, Ashen Fernando, Maleesha Madumewan and Gunadheera are expected to give a terrific display in the loose and secure ball position. If they deliver and get their act together to proceed with the famous rolling maul then the Royalist will have a chance of pulling off this game.

However they face a huge challenge from the Pathana forwards spearheaded by their cracking number eight and Singer league man of the final Vageesha Weerasinghe who will be ably supported by Devin Gunaratna, Lahiru Wishvajith, Kaveesha Madushan, Sharukh Manabarana, Hasitha Mapitigama, Adeesha Weeratunga and Sashmitha Fernando.

In the set scrums the experienced Royal hooker Fajudeen should get the better of his vis-a-vis Mapitigama, while the line outs should be shared between the Royal duo of Ashen Fernando together with Madumewan and Isipathana line out jumpers in Weeratunga and Weerasinghe.

Royal’s new halves combination comprising Wijekumar and Askey are playing together for the first time this season. Everything will depend on how they click as a pair in this crucial match. Royal will hope that their highly talented scrum half cum play maker Wijeykumar will pair off well with his new fly half Askey.

“We have got our momentum and the correct team combination from the start of this knockout tournament, that’s why we were really successful and come into the finals,” Royal head coach Sanath Martis said.

“We have been really hard at practices throughout the week and looking forward to play a competitive final to win this year’s championship,” he said. Meanwhile for the Isipathana lads in all probability, their young scrum half Harith Bandara should try to set his speedy three quarters in motion at every given opportunity, as they have two hard running wing three quarters in Chamod Fernando and Ranindhu Padmasanka together with their skipper and centre Kushan Indunil. This is in addition to the experienced centre cum vice captain Sumudhu Rankothge who has stood out with his powerful runs down the flank. Full back Gayan Wickramaratne is there to join the line and form the overlap.

They will hope that their halves combination of Bandara and Rehan Silva will hit it off today. The halves combination of these two players will have to give a very good performance if Isipathana are to emerge victorious. “They are a good side and we expect a good fight from them in the finals. We know where Royal’s strength lies and done our home work accordingly to counter it down. Finally we are going for an all out victory, enabling us to end the season in high as the unbeaten league and knockout champions,” concluded Nilfer Ibrahim, the head coach of Isipathana College. Referee: Rohan Fernando.