By M. Shamil Amit

Reigning schools rugby league and knockout champions St. Peter’s sounded a warning when they got their 2024 schools rugby season off to an electrifying start as they emerged Cup champions of the Zahira Centenary Rugby 7s tournament after recording a comfortable 17-5 win over Isipathana in the final played at the Racecourse Ground in Colombo today.

The final turned out to be a tense battle between two of the best rugby-playing schools in the island. The Peterites took a comfortable 10-0 lead at the breather whilst accumulating their points through a goal and two tries to the solitary try scored by Isipathana.

In fact, the Peterities recorded a 19-5 win in the league encounter played on day one and succeeded in maintaining their winning trend.

For the Peterites, Vishenka Silva was in top form as he went over for two tries, with the other try being scored by Pasindu Bandara, with Rahul Peter making one conversion. Mohamed Zumir scored the solitary try for Isipathana.

Meanwhile, there were four other finals worked off before the main cup final. The Shield final was the first to be conducted between Maliyadeva Kurunegala and Mahanama Colombo, which ended in a close 17-12 win for Maliyadeva.

This was followed by the Bowl final, fought out by home town rivals Trinity and Kingswood, with Trinity coming out victorious with ease by 22 points to 5.

Royal and St. Joseph’s confronted each other in the Plate final, which ended in a 24-17 win for Royal.

In the Women’s 7s, where three teams (Navy SC, Army SC, and Air Force) contested, the Navy SC lasses came out on top with a comfortable 19-12 win over Army SC. 

Pasindu of the champion St. Peter’s outfit was adjudged the best player of the tournament and was awarded the electric motorbike by courtesy of Sling Mobility and a cash award of LKR 50,000, while top try scorer Menuka Wickramasuriya of S. Thomas’ received a cash award of LKR 50,000. (Pix by: Kushan Pathiraja)