A League of their own

If the current decade has been one of the most fruitful for Royal College rugby, then the current season could be termed as the pinnacle of the decade – the dream season. Royal teams throughout the past 9 years have performed constantly at their best – 2001 and 2002 unbeaten teams being prime examples, but in 2009 the team has done one better – winning all their matches and thus has put the icing on the cake.

It was clear by the end of last season that the talent pool is well and ripe and the promise to deliver something better this time around was always in the air – but only a few die-hard supporters held the dream of an unbeaten, league-winning side aloft at the beginning of the 2009 season, when this team was pitched in to battle. From the STC match back in April, to the methodical demolition of all the heavy weights of Sri Lankan schools rugby, the team continued to attract more and more support and more and more believers. (Ironically for STC, the would be league final was the league starter but they should very well understand that the result would have been no different even if they played Royal at the end, only possibility being that the winning margin for Royal being more decent.). This Royal team dominated traditional rivals Trinity at both legs of coveted Bradby Shield, and won both with convincing margins against the much hyped-about opponents. The silverware kept piling in throughout the season with all the traditional matches being won at ease.

The team was nothing but if well balanced, well coached and well motivated. The only possibly weak-link would have been the place-kicking where Mushin Faleel has had intermittent luck (he defied his critics and put on a couple of good performances at the Bradby and at the SJC match), but in almost all other departments, the players carried out their part admirably well. Naren Dhason (for me, the player of the year for the schools rugby) was nonchalant but clinical in his approach to leadership and controlling the game and I’m sure the breathing space he gave that awesome pack of forwards really helped them to play it their own way and deliver the goods. Naren had superb vision when it came to seeing the possibilities of play from his pivotal fly-half position and almost always made the correct choice of passing, running or kicking to make maximum use of the possession. The back line literally took the ‘back line’ in media to the much talked about forwards, but they never failed to deliver when called-upon. Duminda Attygalle, Chamara Dabare, Nabeel Faizer and the rest of them supported the skipper in scoring multiple tries in dashing fashion and they were most outstanding in defense as well.

Nikira Senanayake led the forwards brilliantly with his imposing scrummaging and superb loose play. Though he missed a couple of encounters through injury and played a much relaxed game in the latter part of the season, he was a constant threat and was admired and respected by all forwards who played against him. Almost all the forwards had one of the best seasons they could wish for, with Hasthika Bandaranayake, Ranga Perera, Kalana Amarasuriya, Shehan Pathirana and Hamza Hassen being outstanding with their fast and aggressive style of play. Aqeel Sathuk operated at the base of scrum with much agility and intelligence that enabled the play to continue seamlessly.

Together as a team they demolished all the opponents who came their way and staked their claim to the League title – a week at a time. Royal, in their wake, leave the following teams bruised and battered and contemplating the learning they had: STC 37-34, St. Anthony’s 39-6, St. Peter’s 30-10, Mahanama 54-13, Trinity 22-12 (Bradby 1st leg), Dharmaraja 30-3, Trinity 31-15 (Bradby 2nd leg), Kingswood 43-17, Isipathana 22-3, SJC 49-7. All this was done despite a slightly skewed and disadvantaged draw which saw most games being played away and all home game being played after the Bradby Shield.

A word must be said about the standard of refereeing which unfortunately (in my very humble opinion) took a backward step this season. In most matches (Royal or otherwise) we failed to see outstanding, fair and consistent decisions being made by the referees. In the case of Royal, the St. Peter’s, Kingswood and Isipathana matches saw the worst of it, both the playing sides being victimized by incompetent and/or selectively blind judgments made by referees and assistants.

However, despite all that Royal College rugby team of 2009 stands proud and strong at the helm of the school’s league and the two other best traditional rugby playing institutions of Sri Lanka stands at number two and three (St. Thomas’ and Trinity) – which itself is an indicator that the tournament was carried out in the best of the spirits and was enjoyed by all those who came to support their teams. It was an amazing ride with this gallant team and though we will miss seeing them in action again, the memories will forever linger.

We thank the team and the coaches Theo Serafinm and Bilal Yusuf (and the Rugby Committee) for the hard work put out and the unbounded enjoyment given to the fans. And hopes are alive and dreams are already aloft for another memorable, right-Royal performance, come next season. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}