12 June 2023 08:39 pm Views - 198
The much looked forward to schools rugby tournament, the Dialog Schools Rugby League, was launched at the BMICH Sapphire Banquet Hall recently in the presence of the officials of the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association, the officials of Dialog Axiata PLC, the main sponsor of the tournament, and the captains of the participating teams.
The tournament this season will see two more teams being added, namely D.S. Senanayake College Colombo and Zahira College Colombo, making it 14 teams, which are divided into two groups of seven each.
The tournament will usher in a Division 1 Segment ‘A’ clash between St. Anthony’s Katugastota and St. Joseph’s, scheduled to kick off at the Bogambara Stadium on June 14.
Defending champions Isipathana, along with St. Joseph’s, Wesley, S. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia, St. Anthony’s Katugastota, Kingswood, and D.S. Senanayake Colombo, are the teams in Group 1A, while Royal Colombo, Trinity, Vidyartha, Science Mt. Lavinia, Dharmaraja, St. Peter’s, and Zahira Colombo are the teams in Group 2A.
Twenty-four more teams will be in action in the Division I Segment ‘B’ and ‘C’ tournaments, which will be conducted concurrently with each segment comprising 12 teams in each.
Thurstan, along with Maliyadeva Kurunegala, Lumbini MV, St. Aloysius Galle, Ananda Colombo, and Piliyandala Central, will be the six teams in Group 1B, while Sri Sumangala, Prince of Wales, Mahanama Colombo, St. Benedict’s, St. Sylvester’s, and Carey are the six teams in Group 2B.
The Group 1C teams consist of St. John’s Nugegoda, Sri Rahula Kandy, CWW Kannangara MMV Colombo, Moratu MV, Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya, and Lalith Athulathmudalia MMV Mt. Lavinia, and the six teams in Group 2C are Nalanda, Devapathiraja MMV Rathgama, Sri Sumangala Panadura, Siri Piyarathana MMV Padukka, Richmond Galle, and Bandaranayake Central.
Kings of school rugby, Isipathana, the defending champions who also bagged the knockout title, will go all out to retain the title but will face stiff opposition from Royal, St. Peter’s, St. Joseph’s, Trinity, S. Thomas’, and Wesley, with the dark horses being D.S. Senanayake Colombo, who are capable of pulling off surprises.
Supporters of the respective schools could look forward to an exciting season, and another factor is that this is the first time that a full tournament is being conducted after a lapse of two years, which was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dialog Axiata, as the principal sponsor, has made arrangements to broadcast live via papare.com, the Dialog VIU mobile app, and Dialog TV channel 126. (MSA / Pix: Nimalsiri Edirisinghe)