| Sports |
|
Schools rugby off to encouraging kick off |
The all island schools sevens were worked out at the Royal Complex last Sunday. As the games progressed to Sunday there was some entertaining rugby. From the quarter final stage onwards the show was good. The crowds were encouraging endorsing the fact that there is a following despite all that you hear and or are written about.
The quarter finals produced some interesting games with Isipathana taking on the Joes in the first game and not having things easy. What went wrong for St Josephs was the inability to get away from fifteen side rugby as they went into contact. Having concentrated on moving the ball Pathana went about their work to win the game Dharmaraja pushed Kingswood College to the wall before going down seven points to ten. Trinity had an easy victory against Ananda while new comers Prince of Wales and Kannangara battled for the other slot. Prince of Wales triumphed to meet Trinity in the Semi Final. POW challenged Trinity to a stage of the game where the lack of experience and the mental preparation led to a defeat after a gallant performance. Kingswood on the other hand had to fight hard against Isipatana in a game where both teams played aggressive rugby. Despite the loss the Pathana boys played well and would be a team worth watching this school season.
The final saw Kingswood taking an early seven nil lead only to surrender to Trinity at half time who went ahead to lead by twelve points to seven. The final game could have swung any way despite Kingswood scoring in the first minute. The final score in favour of Kingswood was twenty six points to seventeen.
Something that stuck me was the ability of the Kingswood coach to stay calm and talk to the boys at half time and get back to watch proceedings giving the impression that the boys know what is to be done. This is something I do not see in many coaches. Most would be running around barking instructions adding more pressure to the players.
Shouting and giving instructions adds to confuse the players .It is always nice to see a calm coach allowing the boys the flexibility to meet the challenges as they come on the field. I believe Niloufer Ibrahim will go a long way as a coach if he continues to keep his composure and I wish him and the team well.The emergence of Kannangara MV and Prince of Wales to the top was encouraging and a boost for development. Other teams that impressed me with their ability were Royal Panadura, Maliyadeva and Nalanda College. Not big guns that can boom at the division one. They have the potential to challenge. This is what development is about. This is what the governing body should be looking at and coming out with help. I saw at least two boys from Maliyadeva that made an impression with a natural ability to run. The scouts were around for signing them for schools in Colombo. How far south of Colombo they will go will be known in time to come.
While rugby rolls on satisfying the need of the spectator there must be an end to the side shows. The Governing body should be concentrating on taking the game forward. Else there will be disappointment for all those young hopefuls who are taking to the game. The challenge should be to train and develop quality players who will then have the flair for exciting rugby. The wheels of academy at the starting level have been seen in some clubs and products can be seen at junior level as they turn out for various schools team. No assurance that they will continue in the game and also play for the club that trains them. Yet the wheels are in motion. The crash course in the meantime would be to keep talented school leavers tied to a club and trained in its academy to make them better players.
The question however is the availability of funds for such ambitious moves. This requires involvement at the national level. With cash strapped scenario in the present economic crisis can the government have money to pump? What about the IRB grant? The background to IRB funding is not as rosy as it seems. There is a reluctance of the Governing body, the IRB, to release funds to a Government Appointed committee. If funds are not released by the IRB the predicament will have a severe bearing on the game this year. It is no secret that Clubs, Schools, Referees as well as the Union being hit as many of the corporate are cutting expenses.
The satisfaction is that there has been a draft constitution circulated among the stake holders. Some of them and numbers that matter have had discussions on the draft and there are areas where proposal will be forwarded with consensus. This includes changes to the voting process and the representation. A noteworthy inclusion has been the Mercantile Rugby association. A striking absentee is the Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees. This has been seen as the draft has been read and re-read and is now going down as an omission. There are also areas that will help the game in the recognition of the IRB regulations in the proposed constitution . This in turn will give recognition to the code of conduct and the disciplinary sanctions that go along.
With a possibility of agreement being reached on major issues there is likelihood that we may see a new constitution for rugby and the holding of the Annual General Meeting.
= Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB
|
|
| |
 |
| |
 E-mail |
| |
views[1] |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
