By Shamseer Jaleel  

Vidyartha College will host their traditional rivals Ananda College in the 53rd annual William Gopallawa Shield Inter-School rugby encounter at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium in Kandy.  

This fixture was earlier fixed for September 7 but as Ananda are participating in the Inter-Schools Premier Trophy Knock-Out Rugby Tournament it is likely to be played at the end of this month.  

Vidyartha will be led by crack centre three quarter Gayan Perera with former Vidyartha, Navy SC and national player, Sumedha Malawana as the Head Coach of the outfit.  

Kandy SC winger, Kavindu Perera is their Backs Coach while Kusal Bandara handles the training side of the lads from the Central Hills.  

Meanwhile, Ananda will be led by Kalindu Kaveesha with Chanaka Bandara heading the Coaching Unit. Nalin Kumara is looking after the back division while Ayodya Jayasinghe is the trainer of the outfit.  

The William Gopallawa Shield rugby series commenced in 1967 and out of the 52 encounters, Vidyartha lead the tally with 29 wins against Ananda’s 21 wins while two games have ended in a draw.