Wesley's glory, beating the famed Trinity ruggerites in a final

Wesley College past and present sportsmen had good reason to celebrate. For the first time in their rugby history the school ruggerites created a sensation when they swamped the famed Trinitians in the President's Trophy Milo schools knockout final at the Royal College Sports Complex on Sunday.

Wesley had previously beaten Trinity in 2002 in a league match at Longden Place under Lahiru Boteju 21-0, but never in a final. The victory in this final was creditable considering that Wesley were the underdogs. The 34 points - 3 goals, 2 tries, 1 penalty to 21 - 1 goal, 1 try, 3 penalties - makes fantastic reading considering that Wesley were not much known in rugby. In the circumstances to beat a school like Trinity that is famed for the Oval Ball Game is incredible.

Wesley's effort is all the more creditable considering that they had to overcome another mighty rugby school from Kandy Dharmaraja to enter the final. Not many gave the Campbell Park School a chance in this final.

Never say die approach

But the gallant ruggerites took the field with that never-say-die approach and we are second to none attitude and it was this attitude that drove them like men possessed to dump the Trinitians.

This sensational victory should create a renaissance in their rugby.

Wesley is famed for giving to the game of cricket that genius of a batsman, the great, the one and only Mahadevan Sathasivam whose square or late cuts made the blades of grass on the grounds stand up in awe.

Then there were other cricketers such as Tita Nathanielsz, Brian and Radley Classen, Abu Fuard, Lucky Gunatilleke, Navin de Silva and Sritharan Jeganathan. Then in hockey, there was that wizard and penalty corner specialist A. Mylvaganam who had goal keepers shivering in their boots when up against a penalty corner taken by the maestro.

Cricket in the country is what it is today thanks to that off-spinning allrounder and stormy petrel of cricket Abu Fuard. It was Fuard who was a leading light in our search for Test status and who opened the doors for outstation school players to dominate and cut a niche for themselves.

Mercurial Captain Rahul de Silva

But this rugger team led by the mercurial Rahul de Silva will go down in history. Rahul is the son of Navin de Silva. Navin was a superb allrounder at cricket. They performed the impossible. From a seemingly ordinary looking set of ruggerites they became larger than life in this final to rewrite the record books.

When they took the field in the final, other than for their supporters no one else would have wagered on them. Trailing 8-13 at the recess, Wesley hit back with a vengeance planting 3 tries in 8 minutes to knock the sails out of the Trinity rugby ship.

Those three tries had a demoralizing effect on Trinity and that fluency they commanded in the first half went missing as Wesley took charge to dominate and when referee Nizam Jamaldeen blew the long blast, all hell broke loose as Wesley supporters stormed the field to hug, kiss and celebrate with the players.

In the euphoria of this stunning victory one must also shower praise on their coach Henry Terrance for licking into shape a team that performed the impossible.

Terrance a national player

A Wesleyite himself and a national player and prop forward, he worked tirelessly with the ruggerites, showing and teaching the youngsters how to play match winning rugby and the ruggerites delivered in telling fashion.

Terrence played for the Red Shirts from 2006 to 2011 and then wore the Havelock Park Club jersey captaining the club in 2012.He is showing good talent as a coach and the Sri Lanka Rugby Union should take note.

The Master-in-charge of rugby at Wesley is Wimala Bandara a keen ruggerite and the Principal is that famous former hockey player Shanti McLelland who gives sport in the school top priority.

Good for schools rugby that the usual dominance by schools such as Trinity, S.Thomas, St.Peter's, Royal and Dharmaraja has ended and a little known school in rugby has scaled to the top. They should keep up the good work.

Umpiring controversies mar First Ashes Test

A draw would have been a fitting result to the First Ashes Cricket Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham between traditional and bitter rivals England and Australia on Sunday.

Before going on to comment on the series and the Test match in particular, it would be interesting to make a comment on the Decision Review System, which system is still anathema to India.

Even with the DRS system in operation there was a lot of controversy with umpires making mistakes. The most glaring was the one against Jonathon Trott. Stuart Broad when he was on 37,snicked a ball to Michael Clarke in the slips, but stood his ground when umpire Aleem Dar turned down the appeal.

In today's game with money hitting for six the axioms of the game, Broad had he walked would have been appreciated and he would have underlined the fact that values like 'it is not the winning or losing that matters, but how one played the game.

Michael Clarke on record

Australia's Captain Michael Clarke is on record saying that Broad not being given out did not matter in the final outcome of the game. That was a surprise uttering by Clarke. Broad was on 37 at that time and went on to make 65.

Had Broad been given out or had he walked, Australia would not had a big chase to make. That they finally fell short by 14 runs which would been a memorable victory had they achieved it, proves the point.

Little wonder then that the DRS System is anathema to India who is convinced that the system is not foolproof. No amount of convincing will get them to change their stance with regard to the DRS System.To the First Ashes Test and although England who were the favourites won they certainly cannot be satisfied with their effort. Playing in their backyard a more convincing performance was expected.

Ashton Agar star at Trent Bridge

But the star of Trent Bridge Test was teenage Australian whiz kid Ashton Agar. A Southpaw in both batting and bowling, he rewrote the record books with a batting show never before seen by a number 11 in Test cricket.

Agar walked in with Australia on a sorry looking 117 for 9, early in the second morning, with indications that the Test would be over on the third day or early fourth day. From the first ball he faced he exuded confidence and what a courageous and punishing innings of 98 he played. He punched the much-hyped England off spinner Graeme Swann for sixes which were breathtaking.

That he missed being the first ever number 11 batsman to score a century in a Test was cruel. The 98 was a thing of beauty and together with Phil Hughes he put on a record 163 stand for the tenth wicket to take Australia to respectability and a lead of 65.That lead helped Australia take the game to the final day, when indications at one stage were that the Aussies would suffer a humiliating defeat well inside the distance.

It was Dr.Quintus de Zylva, Chairman, Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation in Victoria who first broke the news about Ashton Agar and his chances of sporting the baggy green cap.It is worth repeating that Agar is part of Sri Lanka heritage. His father John played for Prahran Cricket Club, for which club Aravinda de Silva too played. Ashton is the grandson of Nala Hewawissa who played cricket for Dharmaraja, Kandy.His grandmother was Sheilagh Hewawissa who worked for the Ceylon Tea Board as Secretary to Mohamed Iqbal who is now our Honorary Consul in Auckland. Iqbal too is a keen cricket fan.

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