Wesley have the edge over Royal

BY CHRIS Dhambarage

WESLEY College will be out to avenge their last year's defeat when they take on arch rivals Royal College in a key Singer Inter-school Under 20 'A' Division League Rugby Tournament match at the Sugathadasa Stadium today.

The Wesleyites who went in as the favourites had their hopes dashed when they were beaten 0-24 by Royal which also spoiled their chances of winning the title. They eventually finished in the third place of the final points table with four victories from six outings.

This time the Wesleyites seem to have a better chance of overcoming Royal following an impressive start to the new inter-school rugby season. Last week they produced a tremendous performance to beat Ananda College 34-8 in their opening fixture at Longden Place.

The manner in which the Wesleyites handled the Anandians was really outstanding as they stamped their class while scoring as many as six tries and conceding only one to their opponents.

But more importantly they were determined to win the match and they did it in style which also signalled a warning to the rest of the opponents.

In contrast Royal will go into this clash with a defeat against the traditional rivals S. Thomas' College in the back of their mind. This will be a real test for the Royal side whether they could bounce back and get into their winning ways once again.

Last year too they faced a similar situation when they figured in a rousing 10 all draw against Kingswood College in their very first outing for the season and lost to St. Anthony's College 13-14 once again in Kandy.

But they came back in a strong way and eventually went on to emerge runners-up in the inaugural Singer 'A' Division League Tournament.

Royal went on to register four successive victories against Wesley (24-0), Ananda (39-5), S. Thomas' (18-8) and Isipatana (8-5). They also went on to beat their traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy (41-6 and 10-0) and retained the Bradby Shield for another year.

This year the Wesley team will be captained by fly half B.O. Sariffodeen who is one of their star players in the side.

The strength in the Wesley team is no doubt their three quarters who are capable of penetrating any defence. N. Karunanayake and Yomal Amaratunga will be the two centres while N.J. Wickremaratne and A.P. Perera are the two wingers with Yasas Nonis in the last line of defence.

The front row will comprise Henry Terrence and M.S. Yapa who will combine with H. Jaya. The second row will be occupied by R.S. Kudaligama and O. Uduman. The third row will include I. Ratnayake, E. de Silva and S. Madhawa. S. Lakshan will operate from the defence.

Royal of course will be hoping for an improved performance because another defeat would probably put them out of contention from the 'A' Division League Tournament.

Last week their forwards made a couple of mistakes during some vital stages of the game which actually cost them the game.