After enthralling action in the first round of the Singer Schools’ Rugby League, it is decision time for the lower tier teams in Division A and an opportunity for the lower tier schools in the ‘B’ segment as their place in the league will depend in the Plate Championship that will commence on the 28th of April 2017.
A total of five teams were demoted to the Plate segment after their lackluster performance in the first round. Dharmaraja College, St. Anthony’s College and D. S. Senanayaka College had to leave the Cup championship from the group IA after they failed to collect the adequate points to progress forward.
Out of the six teams in Group IIA, Science College and Prince of Wales College Moratuwa could not progress forward with Science College having only one win and Prince of Wales ending win-less.
Schools’ Rugby League to Round 2; Petes & Joes take final spots
After the conclusion of the illustrious first round action from the Singer Schools Rugby League..
While five teams made it through from the top division, three teams will progress to the Plate Championship from the ‘B’ Division. The teams that qualified are Kingswood College, Vidyartha College and Lumbini College Colombo.
>> Take a look at the B Division Points table at the end of Round 1
With the participation of eight teams in the Plate, this year’s silverware run should make up an entertaining four weeks. The divisions for the second round in the Plate will be as follows:
| Group A | Group B |
| St. Anthony’s College | Science College Mount Lavinia |
| Dharmaraja College | Prince of Wales College Moratuwa |
| D. S. Senanayake College Colombo | Kingswood College Kandy |
| Lumbini College Colombo | Vidyartha College Kandy |
With 5 teams from the top division and three from the lower, the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association have compiled the final Plate points table ahead of the start of the action.
Accordingly, only the points that each team scored against the teams in the Plate will be carried forward and the rest will be declared null and void. For example, the points that St. Anthony’s gained against Dharmaraja & D. S. Senanayake College will remain under their name and the rest will be declared null.
Therefore, Dharmaraja College will carry forward the points they collected from the matches against St. Anthony’s and D. S. Senanayake only. For D. S. Senanayake it will be from the matches between St. Anthony’s and Dharmaraja.
In the Group IIA, the two teams Prince of Wales and Science College will carry forward the points from the match where the two teams played each other.
It will be the same scenario for the three ‘B’ Division teams, Kingswood, Lumbini and Vidyartha. The two teams Kingswood and Vidyartha will take the points they collected when the two teams met in the final week of the ‘B’ Division.
Lumbini College being the only school getting into the Plate from the ‘IB’ segment will be awarded 5 points to their total since they will not be carrying forward any points.
Speaking to ThePapare, secretary of the SLSRFA A. P. Jayasooriya added these words on the awarding of these points to Lumbini;
“The SLSRFA made this amendment to make it an even ground and to not to discriminate Lumbini College in the Plate competition”
The teams in the Plate will be ranked based on the net average. Each team in the group will play the four opposing teams in the coming four weeks of action.
After four weeks of Plate championship action, the total points collected by St. Anthony’s, D. S. Senanayake and Dharmaraja College will be divided by 6 to calculate the ranking. The net average for the other teams will be calculated by dividing the total points by 5.
Accordingly, the four teams with the best average will receive the promotion ticket to the ‘A’ Division.
Science College will be having a battle between life and death since it will be mandatory that they win the remaining games if they intend to remain in the ‘A’ division and prevent being demoted down for the first time in 7 years.
It will be also crucial for St. Anthony’s and Dharmaraja that they excel here to keep their surviving while Kingswood College, who were relegated last year will be eyeing the promotion position.
