Dialog Schools Rugby 7’s - Western Province St. Peter’s claim Western Province Schools’ 7’s title

Ishan Fernando, captain of St. Peter’s holding the Cup Championship with his teammates and coaching staff. Also, in photo (L-R): Nirodha Wijerama, Secretary, SLSRFA, B.A. Abeyratne, President, SLSRFA, Amali Nanayakkara, Group Chief Marketing Officer, Dialog Axiata PLC, Manahara Wijeyawickrama, SGM - Channel Planning & Control and CVM, Dialog Axiata PLC, Damitha Perera, Treasurer, SLSRFA

By M. Shamil Amit

St. Peter’s emerged as the Dialog Schools Rugy 7’s - Western Province Segment ‘A’ champions when they defeated S. Thomas’ by 19 points to 17 in the Cup final played at the Royal Sports Complex ground yesterday.
The thrilling finale saw the Peterites make up their points through two goals to a goal and two tries scored by the Thomians. The semi-final encounters saw St. Peter’s overcome DSS, while S. Thomas’ got the better of arch-rivals Royal.

Royal, who had a successful run in the tournament, had to be satisfied with the Plate title after winning against DSS while Wesley bagged the Bowl title by defeating Science, and Isipathana took the Shield title with a win over Thurstan.

The five matches of the first session of proceedings saw D.S. Senanayake Colombo pull off a stunning win over the fancied St. Joseph’s by two points, while the other teams, Royal, Wesley, Zahira, and S. Thomas’, chalked up easy wins.

In the second session, D.S. Senanayake continued their giant-killing performance when they pulled off another stunning win against hot-favourites Isipathana by five points and Isipathana succumbed to their third successive defeat when they were beaten by St. Joseph’s, while Royal and S. Thomas’ too recorded their first wins, and St. Peter’s was the other team to come out victorious.

The tournament, conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association and sponsored by Dialog Axiata, was held under strict guidelines set by the health authorities.

The Central Province tournament, which is the third of the six tournaments scheduled to be conducted, will be played at the Pallekele Rugby Ground on December 27.

Results:
Session One:
Royal beat Ananda 33-0, Wesley beat Thurstan 28-0, DSS beat St. Joseph’s 7-5, Zahira beat Ananda 35-7, S. Thomas’ beat Thurstan 31-0, DSS beat Isipathana 17-12, Royal beat Zahira 31-0, S. Thomas’ beat Wesley 29-0, St. Joseph’s beat Isipathana 22-14, St. Peter’s beat Science 24-0.
Semi-finals:
Shield – Thurstan beat Ananda 38-5, Isipathana received a walk-over.
Bowl – Wesley beat Zahira 26-5, Science beat St. Joseph’s 17-12
Cup - S. Thomas’ beat Royal 21-12, St. Peter’s beat DSS 19-14.
Final:
Shield - Isipathana beat Thurstan 39-0
Bowl – Wesley beat Science 19-7
Plate – Royal beat DSS 21-5
Cup – St. Peter’s beat S. Thomas’ 19-17