St. Joseph’s College hosting Vidyartha College at Havelock Park
Aspiring to clinch the league title this year, the Boys from Darley Road sprung into action with utmost energy and enthusiasm, only to be outplayed in all departments of the game by Vidyartha College Kandy at the curtain raiser of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024. Having lost the season opener for the second year in a row, St. Joseph’s College has put itself under tremendous pressure for the rest of the league. Its coaching staff would have their work cut out to turn this catastrophe around, and win a Trophy.
From the outset when the first long whistle blew, Joes looked spirited but quite edgy, and it was only worsened due to the sheer pressure applied by the visiting Vidyartha team. The Saints almost always found defenders toe-to-toe when they received a pass, as the visitors’ rush defence was quicker than a speeding Arrow. Unfortunately, it took almost the entire first half for the hosts to realise that a running game is not going to yield them fruitful results, as mush as the shoving game.
It is quite daunting for a team to win a game after giving away 17 penalties, unless they are the dominating team. However, in this case Joes were only reacting to the rapid offensive and defensive tactics employed by the opposition. 5 of the 17 infringements were ‘holding on’, which usually occurred either because support players were too slow to cleanout and form Rucks, or the ball carrier broke out and threw himself in the arms of gleeful opponents. Although it is spectacular to watch a player break off and run from a spectator’s perspective, the success rate of this is pretty low, even in the case of certain teams that excel in this skill. Since Rugby is a team sport, the ball carrier and the support players have to move together, in order to secure the ball throughout. This is the decisive way to play if the aim is to win. Joes lost at least two Try scoring opportunities due to the above counterproductive tactics employed.
4 more penalties were awarded against the Saints due to falling over the ball, and all of them while playing in the opposition’s territory. This further self-destructed 4 other offensives carried out by St. Joseph’s. Furthermore, the Saints received 2 yellow cards during the whole game, that made them vulnerable playing with only 14 players on the filed for 20 minutes, which is almost a third of the game. It seems like a series of specially curated training sessions to play by the rules of the game is on the cards for the Saints, prior to anything else.
