St. Joseph’s College having retained the services of a few senior players will be targeting a maiden ‘A’ Division League title when the 2023 Inter-Schools Under-19 Rugby Tournament gets underway in two weeks’ time.
Last year, the Josephians missed out a golden opportunity of winning the ‘A’ Division League title by a whisker and they eventually had to be satisfied with the runners-up position behind the ultimate champions Isipathana College.
They had a second chance to make a lasting impression but once again they were deprived of that chance when they went down to Isipathana 22-49 in the President’s Trophy final played at the Royal Sports Complex in Colombo.
Nevertheless, St. Joseph’s will look to draw inspiration from last year’s performances where they performed extremely well in the league tournament despite having few injuries to a couple of key players.
In the first-round of the tournament they recorded four victories against Kingswood College (34-3), S. Thomas’ College (30-28), Trinity College (20-15) and St. Anthony’s College (35-20) before going down against Royal College (3-17).
In the Super Round segment of the tournament, St. Joseph’s lost to Isipathana (13-16) and defeated Wesley College (26-11) to secure the second spot of the points table with 30 points.
Thereafter, St. Joseph’s started their campaign for the President’s Trophy Knock-Out Tournament with a resounding 38-6 win over Dharmaraja College in the quarter-finals and then edged out Wesley 16-13 in the semi-finals.
This time the Josephians will be spearheaded by the dynamic number eight Naveen Marasinghe, who is set to have another outstanding season following his heroics last year.
The crack third row forward will be their key player this season and is certain to cause some severe damage to the opposition with his clever thinking and smart work in the rucks and mauls.
Another senior player in the team is flanker Sachinthana Waidyanatha, who is a tremendous ball carrier and a good line-out jumper, capable of making heavy inroads into the opposition. Vihanga Randeepa is also a season campaigner, and he will operate from the base of the scrum and should be a huge asset for St. Joseph’s with his tactical kicking options.
St. Joseph’s College First XV Rugby Pool:
Prop forwards: Nithik Rodrigo, Ishan Soysa, Induwara Sandesh, Jehan Athukorala, Rithika Weragama, Malinda Shehath, Tiran Wijegoonawardena, Sathira Gunathilaka.
Hooker: Chamod Kavindya, Uthesh Robinson.
Second row forwards: Sithaga Liyanage, Janith Marasinghe, Denistan Croos.
Flankers: Sachinthana Waidyanatha, Vishika Fernando, Ryan Fernando, Cline Bowels, Ashen Minura.
Number Eight: Naveen Marasinghe (Captain).
Scrum Halves: Senithu Eran, Vihanga Randeepa, Leon Costa, Oshan Silva.
Fly Halves: Beeshma Jayasekera, Nathan Gunaratne.
Centres: Ruchitha Rodrigo, Ivano White, Shenalka Cooray, Sasindu Kariyawasam.
Wingers: Senal Marc, Brian Fernando, Dion Fernando, Rehon Jayasinghe, Enesh Fernando, Rasindu Prasath, Shanuka Alahakoon.
Full Back: Daham Dias, Pramod Kavinda.Head Coach: Nilfer Ibrahim.
Assistant Coach: Dulanjana Wijesinghe.
Trainer: Naveendra Dayan.
Upcoming fixtures:
June 14: vs St. Anthony’s at Bogambara Stadium.
June 24: vs Wesley at Royal Sports Complex.
June 30: vs Isipathana at Royal Sports Complex.
July 9: vs Kingswood at Pallekele Stadium.
July 15: v S. Thomas’ at Mount Lavinia.
July 29: vs D. S. Senanayake at Havelock Park.
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