Rugby Carnival 2012
Sep 29, 2012
Rugby Carnival 2012
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Tag Rugby Sevens 2012
The morning of September 29th 2012 dawned in early fall with bright sunshine answering the fervent prayers of the President STC OBA and the organizing committee of DR Weerasinghe and Goddy Kumarage along with the experienced Gerhard Munaweera, who would also be Captain of the Thomian Rugby team. The weather gods heard these prayers and settled down themselves to watch a beautiful day of rugby to be played among the Sri Lanka Schools in Toronto. It was 18 degrees Celsius, ideal temperature for the players and spectators who gathered during the day in their numbers. By 9:00 am the pop up tents were fast coming up and the team members in their various colours of their old schools brought a beautiful hue that would last till the early hours of the evening. A great day for sportsmanship, fellowship and competition was well on its way.
A significant feature of this year’s tournament was the return of those champions of Sri Lanka Schools Rugby, Trinity College, back in the tournament after a lapse of one year. In fact Trinity fielded two teams, with one being the older players among them, the’ Pinkies’ Team comprising of the legendary Rugby Lions from Trinity – Ravi Ponnabalam and Pradeep Adhihetty, ably assisted by President OBA, Ananda Wickramasinghe, who participated ‘just for the love of the game’. A surprise inclusion (a secret leaked to arch rivals – Royal beforehand as a scare tactic) in the Thomian team was a female player- Joey Candappa (daughter of Thomian Malik Candappa), an accomplished player on her own right having participated in Female Rugby Tournaments in Ontario. Another first that STC can boast of.
The teams participating were last year’s champions, St. Anthony’s Katugastota, Royal College, S. Thomas’ College, St. Joseph’s –St. Peter’s and Trinity College with two teams.
By the time the break for lunch came at around 11.45 am, the possible champion teams remaining were emerging. The scores leading to the final were as follows:
RUGBY SCORES (IN ORDER OF THE GAMES PLAYED)
1) SAINTS 22 PINKIES 00
2) ROYAL 07 TRINITY 10
3) ST. ANTHONYS 07 SAINTS 05
4) S.THOMAS’ 07 TRINITY 07
5) PINKIES 05 ST. ANTHONYS 17
6) S.THOMAS’ 26 ROYAL 00
SEMIFINALS
7) S.THOMAS’ 00 SAINTS 10
8) TRINITY 07 ST. ANTHONYS 00
CUP FINAL
TRINITY 10 SAINTS 07
3rd Place S.THOMAS’ received a walk over from ST. ANTHONYS
PLATE FINAL
ROYAL 10 PINKIES 05
An unfortunate event at this years’ tournament was the conceding of a walkover to S.Thomas, by St.Anthony’s due to a slight flaw in the interpretation of the rules. The rules of the tournament will be further tightened next year to avoid such an event recurring. The apologies of the STC OBA President to St. Anthony’s for any lapse in the organization of the tournament has been accepted. St. Anthony’s will return for next year’s tournament.
A most enjoyable day hosted by the Oakville Crusaders Rugby Club, who in turn had a family day concurrently. Music and sound was provided by Glen Ragel, and a food stall serving Hoppers and Fried Rice by Sonali kept everyone who attended well fed and satisfied.
Once again, a great event organized by the STC OBA Canada.
Hiran A