Isipathana College will be determined to defend their title while St. Peter’s College will aim to disrupt the Green Machine and get their hands on the Dialog Schools Rugby League for the first time since 2010.
St. Peter’s College vs Isipathana College at Bambalapitiya
Only two teams remain in the race for Silverware as Isipathana aim to defend their title from 2022 while the challenger, St. Peter’s have their sights set on a first title since the turn of the decade (2010).
Isipathana have been sublime in attack, however, cracks appeared in defence against Royal last weekend. The Green Machine was stopped by the rush defence as Royal made sure Isipathana were unable to use their potent backline, in a tactical masterclass from Coach Dushanthe Lewke.
Isipathana missed the likes of Zumri through injury against Royal but he was able to play a few minutes of the game and showed how he could switch up the tempo of the lineup. His presence will be vital as skipper Naveen Kanishka and co will be desperate to reignite that spark in their line.
>>St. Peter’s outclass St. Anthony’s to boost title hopes
St. Peter’s have been almost invincible both in attack and defence. The Bamba Brigade have humbled their opponents, conceding just 39 points in their seven outings, as only Trinity and Vidyartha managed to get into double figures, that too being 10 on each occasion.
The Peterites annihilated the Antonians at home last weekend, however, this weekend’s task will be a completely different one. The hosts’ defence will have to come up trumps if they are to defeat the flamboyant Pathana lads.
The equation at the end of the day is pretty simple, the winner takes it all, unbeaten or not!
Prediction: St. Peter’s to win by 5 or more
St. Anthony’s College vs Royal College at Pallekele
Both teams are left with pride to play for in what is in essence a dead rubber.
Royal unfortunately had to let go of any realistic title aspirations as soon as they lost the 1st leg of the Bradby (which was part of the league tournament) to Trinity, however, from then on it has been up and away for the Royalists as they managed to secure the Bradby Shield and the Milroy Fernando Trophy in consecutive weeks.
>>Disciplined Royal humble Isipathana to end their unbeaten streak
The Antonians will have a massive task at hand if they are to defeat the high-flying Royalists. St. Anthony’s managed to scrape through to the second round, but things have gone south from then on.
A win for Royal is very much on the cards, but don’t write off the Antonians just yet!
Prediction: Royal to win by 12 or more.
Don’t forget that you can catch all the action from the last weekend of the Dialog Schools Rugby League LIVE on Sri Lanka’s No. 1 Sports Hub, ThePapare.com.
