Petes holds the edge over Joes today

St.Peters College Bambalapitiya will be at full strength and raring to go when they take on St. Joseph’s college Maradana in their Singer ‘A’ Divisioninter-schools league rugby first round match for the Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunge Memorial Shield’s 59th encounter at St.Peters grounds in Bambalapitiya. Kick off will be at 4:15pm.

Led by nippy full back Diyath Fernando the Peterites got some good players who could be match winners for the Bambalapitiya outfit. Players such as centre Theekshana Dassanayaka, fly half Steffen Sivaraj, number eight Angelo Mendis, flanker Sajith Saram and scrum half Raveen Fernando should be marked well by the Joes if not they will be in deep trouble.

Peters, one of the strongest contenders for the Singer league this year, will be out for their fourth win when they meet their traditional rivals.

The Peterites coached by former junior Sri Lanka coaches in Colin Denish and Terence Henry, should have things their own way in this encounter. The Bambalapitiya school beat the Antonians (27-25), D.S.Senanayaka (36-05) and Isipathana (32-15) but were edged out by Royal (10-17) in a tense battle. Play maker Sivaraj’s kicking boot will play a major role in thisgame.

Meanwhile Josephian’s the “Dark Horse” of the Singer League, who are slowly but steadily getting in to their peak will be out for their third win this season and keep their chances alive to move forward in round twoCup segment.

They will heavily depend on their skipper and winger Vinul Fernando, fullback Gamunu Chethiya, hooker Sven Muller, prop forward Shavon Greogary, scrum half Channa Ashoka and fly half Chathura Seneviratne.

Joes lost two games within close margins to Royal (22-28) and Isipathana (32-39) but got the better of the Rajans (44-10) and St. Anthony’s (24-11)in their last outing at Kandy.

Out of the 58 encounters of Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunge Memorial Shield todate, St. Peters college lead the tally with 40 wins to St.Joseph college 13 where five games ended in draws.

This encounter should be a close tussle for supremacy with St. Peters college holding the edge over St.Josephs according to the total number of wins under their belt in this years ongoing league.