Kingswood and Wesley contend for the 32nd L.E Blaze

Kingswood and Wesley will play their most looked forward to Rugby encounter, the 32nd L.E Blaze memorial trophy on the 22^nd April 2017 at Bogambara stadium.

Kingswood College, Kandy was founded by Louis Edmond Blaze on 4^th May 1891. Kingwood is known as the school which introduced Rugby football to Sri Lanka commencing their rugby journey in 1891. In 1906 the first ever match between two schools in Sri Lanka was played between Kingswood and Trinity College.

Wesley College, Colombo was founded on 2nd March 1874, by Rev. Daniel Henry Pereira with Rev. Samuel Roswe Wilkin. Wesley started rugby in 1955 with the first captain being Eddie Buell. Wesley has produced outstanding rugby players to the nation.

The Blaze trophy holds special significance as it serves to honor the grand ancestor of Sri Lanka schools’ rugby, Louis Edmond Blaze.

The first Blaze Trophy game was played on 17th July 1986 between Kingswood College which was captained by Ronnie Ibrahim and Wesley College by Sumedha Kuruppu. The inaugural encounter was won by Kingswood College. It was a very active encounter till the early 2000s, where the Blaze trophy was played out in two legs but unfortunately it was interrupted by an ugly incident between spectators in 2005 at the CR & FC grounds in a President’s Trophy semi-final.

The Blaze Trophy encounter was re-instated in 2013 at the Bogambara stadium, the game which ended up in a tight 8-8 deadlock. In 2014 & 2015 the trophy remained in the Hill capital as Kingswood held the upper hand over the Wesleyites.

The 31^st Blaze trophy was a blue thunder over the boys from the hill capital where Wesley college won 57 points to 07 under the captainship of Zayaan Sabar.

The 32^nd encounter of the L.E Blaze trophy is expected to be a cracker, where both the schools are in a position to dominate. Wesley College summed up the first round of the Schools’ rugby league taking the overall second place in the points table and Kingswood playing in the B Division topped the table qualifying to play for the plate championship. Kingswood will taste the A division for the first time for 2017 at the Blaze trophy, which will be a great outing for them to showcase their capabilities.  Wesley is expected to continue their momentum campaigning their cause to clinch the league title.

ThePapare.com will stream the match live from Bogambara