The knockout tournament comprising eight teams will consist of six teams from the Division I Segment A and the top two performers from the B Division. President of the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association and Principal of Royal College B. A. Abeyratne addressing a press conference at Jaic Hilton for the launch of the tournament on Wednesday said that the tournament will run alongside two other tournaments that will allow them to find the top performers in the lower divisions as well.

“While organizing the President’s trophy in the top division the Prime Minister’s trophy and the Chairman’s trophy tournaments will also be held alongside the main tournament,” said Abeyratne.

The participating are unbeaten league champions Isipathana College, league runner-up S. Thomas’ College ML, Royal College Colombo, St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya, Wesley College and St. Anthony’s College Kandy from the top division while newly promoted Zahira College Maradana and D. S. Senanayake College will fill in the final two slots in the draw.

Defending champions Science College, Mount Lavinia have withdrawn from the tournament sighting financial difficulties while Trinity College and St. Joseph’s College have also pulled out due to player injuries and other reasons. “We were the triple runners-up last year and we were triple champions in 2014, so we know the pain of losing this tourney; hence we will be going all out to win it at any cost to redeem the lost prestige,” said Isipathana College captain Kushan Indunil.

Since its inception in 1995 St Peter’s who were the inaugural winners have won it five times, Isipathana College six and Kingswood College on four occasions.

The Royalists have an immaculate record after five matches and their cause has been severely bolstered by the presence of ever reliable forwards who are scoring try after try through their famous rolling maul in this League tournament to go along with the dependable place kicking of their young 17-year-old full back Ovin Askey.

They have had no challenge against D.S.Senanayaka College(36-10), Wesley College(17-14), St.Joseph College(27 all draw), Trinity (winning the 1st leg 22-17). Royal went down to Trinity in the return leg in Kandy by 13-18. Last week they stage a spectacular come back where they were trailing 0-19 down to win 33-24 against the fighting Peterites.

Their only blemish this season coming against arch rival S’Thomas College, Mount Lavinia where they were leading till the last minute and lost in the end by 22-16.

On the other hand St.Anthony’s College possesses Samuel Maduwantha their ever reliable fly half who can play in the pivotal position of full back also is the highest point scorer in this year’s on going ‘Singer’ League but has been blowing hot and cold and is savouring the sting of two straight defeats in the past two weeks. Unbeaten Thomians came from behind to invoke their spirit against Anthonians. Isipatha didn’t need any invitations to thrash the Katugasthota outfit last week as well. Also they lost to St. Peter’s in kandy.

These were preceded by two victories over two Kandy Schools, Darmaraja College and Kingswood College but the bite has been taken off their campaign later on and it could be worse for them after this week.

Both schools have proud histories of their rugby prowess and clashes between them have always provided fans with thrilling fare.

They have proved worthy group decider’s with a consistent display of quality rugby against all their opponents in this year’s league tournament and appear to have peaked at just the right time to provide a grand finale to the present schools rugby season.

The game will be a battle between Isipathana’s speedy three quarters and Science’s mobile forwards.

Science had a fairly lean first couple of matches compared to their own high standards but improved their game as the season progressed and despite ending behind group leaders Isipathana as per the points table, have picked up their game from the second match onwards. In the ongoing league tournament they have four wins in a row over St Anthony’s Kandy (40-28), St. Peter’s (13-10), Dharmaraja Kandy (54-7) and Kingswood Kandy (53-5).

For Science Tharindu Maduranga has been a tower of strength and has led from the front and emerged as one of the leading points scorers this season. Hashan Madumadawa, Nishad Niranjan, Thanuja Maduranga and Supun Dilshan have bonded into a powerful unit.

Meanwhile the high riding Isipathanians also have four emphatic wins on their way to this decider brushing aside Dharmaraja Kandy (61-15), St. Anthony’s Kandy (43-17), Kingswood Kandy (53-05) and then beating St. Peter’s College 36-21 with ease last week. Flanker Devin Gunaratne and their versatile number eight Wagesha Weerasinghe will be the men to watch. Weerasinghe is arguably the player of the season and the Science defence will have their work cut out to keep this talented player shackled.

Scrum half Bandara is a bundle of energy and a good reader of the game and is well supported in the back division by 15-year-old fly half Malinda Ruberu, centres Sumudu Rankothge, skipper Kushan Indunil and wingers Chamod Fernando and Padmasanka. Fullback Wickramaratne has been a revelation in his ability to join the line and his speed has brought him rich rewards this season.

Isipathana who have swept all before them will be the firm favourites but they know that they are up against a strong side and a loss to Science will not only prevent them achieving top spot in their group but will also take away some of the gloss of their grand performances this season.

Be prepared to witness a bruising battle between two great school teams with more than just a point to prove.

The Thomians have not tasted success since 2013 when they triumphed 29-20 at Havelock Park under the leadership of fly half Devin Jayasinghe.

This time they seem to have a great chance of regaining the trophy after being unbeaten having won both their previous games played for the season against St. Joseph’s College Colombo and D.S. Senanayake College at Longden Place.

S Thomas’ are currently enjoying one of their finest seasons in the ongoing Singer division one league tournament under experienced Samoan coach Tevita Tulagaese, affectionately called ” Laga” by all his fans in Sri Lanka. Their best effort probably came earlier in the season when they won the inter-school rugby Sevens trophy under Laga after a lapse of more than one and half decade. In the final they beat the favourites for the title Isipathana to clinch the trophy at Havelock Park.

Last week they scored their second successive victory thrashing D.S. Senanayaka College by 40 points to 6 to go along with their 32-3 win over a hapless St. Joseph side in their first outing.

The Thomians are led by their hardy hooker Pandula de Silva.

Royal of course will be hoping to produce an improved performance after their close call against Wesley College which they narrowly won 17-14 at Longden Place.

Last year Royal under the leadership of Bhanuka Gamage and head coach Sanath Martis had a great season where they emerged the undisputed kings of schools rugby clinching the coveted Singer League trophy after four years. To go along with this they rewrote Royal-Thomian rugby history when they demolished S Thomas’ 52-0 at Havelock Park which is todate the highest score by a team in this traditional encounter. The previous best was 39-3 in 2002 by Royal under Zulki Hameed. The Thomians’ biggest victory in the series is 22-0 under Charya de Saram in 1991. Incidentally last year’s Royal College unsung hero and the highest try scorer in the league tournament, number eight Supun Warnakulasuriya emerged the first and only rugby player from both schools to score a hat-trick of tries. He touched down on four occasions to enable Royal achieve that record 52-0 win.

This season Royal are trying their very best to carry out the same winning momentum even though they are playing with only four coloursmen and 11 freshers. They won their first match of the season against D.S. Senanayake College Colombo 36-10 before being rattled by Wesley.

The Royal College outfit is captained this year by that experienced dashing number eight and Sri Lanka national under 19 prop forward Nikila Gunadeera with another experienced player scrum half Ashok Wijeykumar as his deputy. Royal is coached by Sanath Martis, one of the best known school coaches who is also the head coach of the Sri Lanka under 19 rugby team. Ex-national rugby captain Dushanth Lewke will be his assistant.

T.A. Silva former Army and Sri Lanka national full back will be the kicking coach. This traditional encounter was inaugurated in 1962 and the first match ended in a draw.

Present tally stands at 28 wins to Royal College and 18 to S. Thomas’ College with five ending in draws.

In 1979 this match was not played due to a dispute regarding the date for the encounter.

St. Peter’s beat St. Aloysius College Galle by 38 runs in the final played at the Galle International cricket stadium yesterday.

St. Peter’s winning the toss and electing to bat first scored 162-8 in 20 overs. Chandula Jayamanna scored 49 off 24 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. Skipper Vinu Mohotti made 40 off 33 balls with 4 fours and a six. Prabodha Guruge took 4 wickets for 24 runs.

St. Aloysius were restricted to 124-8 in 20 overs. Navindu Nirmal top scored with 36 off 39 balls with 2 fours and a six. Chandula Jayamanne took 3 wickets for 24 runs and was adjudged the man of the match.

Trinity Kandy beat Prince of Wales Moratuwa by 4 wickets in the third place play-off match.

Scores: Final

St. Peter’s: 162/8 in 20 overs (Chandula Jayamanne 49, Vinu Mohotti 40, Praboda Guruge 4/24)

St. Aloysius:124/8 in 20 overs (Navindu Nirmal 36, Gihan Niroshan 27 n.o., Chandula Jayamanne 3/24, Chathura Obeysekara 2/13, Taneesha Weerakoon 2/18)

Third place play-off match

Trinity beat Prince of Wales by 4 wickets.

Prince of Wales: 120 in 20 overs (Sanoj Darshika 52, Dilanka Gunasekara 26, Raveen Sayer 3/16, Hasitha Boyagoda 3/19)

Trinity: 125/6 in 19.3 overs (Nushan Weerasinghe 37, Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan 23, Anjula Sahan 2/22)

Maduranga has won gold medals at the 2015 All Island under 19 Inter School Boxing tournament and was the Champion in volleyball , cricket and boxing Provincial Level Tournaments in 2015.

He also won a gold medal at the National Youth Under 19 Boxing tournament in 2015 .Maduranga is coached by B. Sudarshana.

Story is the same with rugby the good defence and regaining of possession from the opponents and feeding the ball to the forwards does not find merit. In the game of rugby the back division has a good chance of scoring but not in hockey which is s preserve of the forwards.

This writer could well remember in a closely contested rugby match a Fijian World Cup Sevens player representing a Colombo Club was seen jinxing his way to the goal line making a mockery of Kandy’s defence and he had only full back Nigel Ratwatte to beat but met his Waterloo here as Nigel Ratwatte brought him down with a crash tackle. The somewhat dazed Fijian looked at the little David who brought down the Goliath. While the Fijian was applauded there was hardly anything for Nigel Ratwatte.

Madumali Karunatillake falls into a case like this and she is just 17 years and has been playing for the school since she was 10 years and blooded into the under 19 team when 13.

Her performance has been many for her school which is too long to mention. This year she was a member of the Seetha Devi Girls college team which were consolation winners in the all island under 19 schools championship. She played a crucial role in the schools winning the Central Province under 19 champions helped the team to defeat St Anthony’s Girls College which only a few weeks earlier had won the all island title. She was in the Seetha Devi Girls College team which won the Seetha Devi Sevens and the Royal College ‘Black and Gold sevens. She played for the Davians Sports Club which finished runners up in the Kandy District inter club hockey championship and was among the four school girls who made up the Kandy District womens hockey team which became Central Province Champions. The rest being all national players. The other three school girls being centre half Charuka Abeyratne, full back Thamali Dissanayake, and centre forward Tharaki Paranagama – all on the brink of winning national or representative honours.

Madhumali Karunatillake is a very intelligent and a good reader of the game. When the ball passes the centre line her eyes are glued on the ball with a ‘Hawk’s Eye’ The in roads made by the opponents is closely watched by her before she sails into attack and feeds the ball to the forwards.

It is not easy to get past this strongly built player and the opponents often use the other flank to get inside the semi circles. She is affectionately known as ‘Police’ for her ability to arrest intruder in her own territory.

A very soft spoken and a very friendly girl and she has a passion for motor cars apart from hockey. She is also the Deputy Sports Captain of the school. She hails from the village of Weligalla along the Kandy-Gampola road. She hopes to continue her hockey and end up playing for the country.

Organised by the Ministry of Education, The All Island School Games held for the 31st time this year, identify and reward the performance and the exceptional abilities of school children in the field of sports under different games.

While providing key nutritional support by offering free noodles for over 8,500 students attending the event throughout five days, Prima also sponsored attire for judges and other event officials.

The Health, Physical Training and Sports Division of the Ministry of Sports conducted the Games in three stages. The games included 27 group games. A total of 5151 boys and girls from 1210 schools who were winners at provincial level participated at the athletics competition.

The Ministry of Education described the Games as a catalyst in introducing sports men and women with exceptional abilities in the sports arena from villages to towns, from towns to provinces and from provinces to the national level and then to the international level athletic games .

It has been encouraging to see that a large number of students who took part in the All island School Games in the past years have participated and performed well at an international level including the Olympic Games , Commonwealth Games , Asian Games and South Asian Games. This year the Games were inaugurated by President Maithreepala Sirisena and Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam.