From the Touchlines - Rajans Rugby 2010 (Updates)

* Note: Points are calculated upto the matches played till 21th of June 2010
** (PF - Points For / PA - Points Against / PTS - Points / AVE - Average)

Rajans Group of 94 decided to publish updates of the 2010 rugby season on this blog. As you know large number of matches to be played in this season it is impossible to give all the details of them and also this blog is dedicated to the activities of OBU Group of 94. So please note that you will find the updates of the matches only relating to Dharamaraja College. Thanks!

PS : To remain in the division "A" we must win at least two matches. The other factor is the points played For us (PF) . Therefore it is very important to win the matches as well as to score more points

1. Dharmaraja Vs Trinity
Trinity won by 44-5 in the match played at Pallekele


2. Dharmaraja Vs Cambrians (Prince of Wales)

Rajans beat Prince of Wales 29-11 in the match played at Longden Place



3. Dharmaraja Vs Royal
Rajans beaten by Royal college 27-5 in the match played at Royal Sports Complex - Colombo



4. Dharmaraja Vs St. Peter's
Rajans beaten by Peterites 58-0 in the match played in St Peter's grounds - Bambalapitiya.
St Peters rugby team is undoubtedly the best team in Division A. It is not a sloppy performance to lose to them by 58-0 *Click Here to read more about this on Sunday Times*



5. Dharmaraja Vs Kingswood
Rajans lost to KCK by 43-20 in the match played in Bogambara stadium - Kandy. The second half was dominated by the Rajans but couldn't beat the arch-rivals. *Click Here to read more about this on Sunday Times*


6. Dharmaraja Vs St Thomas (Mount Lavinia)
Rajans lost to St. Thomas College Mt Lavinia by 45- 22 in the match played in Bogambara stadium - Kandy. Again the second half was dominated by the Rajans and scored all of the points but unable to beat STC



7. Dharmaraja Vs Wesley
Rajans lost to Wesley College by 23 - 7 in the match played in Bogambara stadium - Kandy. Rajans had everything against the Wesley . . . the venue, huge ground support, advantage of home town and everything . . . but couldn't beat Wesley to get the chance to survive in Division 1 - A. With this loss Rajans will most probably fall into the Division 1 - B and have to remain for at least one year . . . A big blow for Rajans and Rajans Rugby. The effort of many people including well-wishers of Dharmaraja was wasted in vain . . .



8. Dharmaraja Vs St Anthony's
This match started with the unexpected defeat to the Wesley. It was the first match under the new consultant coach Mr Hisham Abdeen one of the greatest rugby players of all time. He did a lot to improve the Rajans Rugby. Unfortunately 5 of the key players were injured (including captain and his assistant) when he commenced training. At the lemons Rajans lead by 13 to 12 and what we saw was unbelievable .. ball handling, kicking and everything was improved marvelously. Rajans played like real lions .. never seen played like that in this season. But when Anthonians scored a try in the second half everything turned the other way. Even though it is a hear breaker for Rajans it showed us that we have the talents and it also showed us that this talent can only be put in use by training and planing the game in a professional way. With this defeat we will fall into Division 1-B and it showed us a lot of lessons. So a brand new start is what we need now .. it should be a well planed process .. It's not the time to worry but it's time to think and do the corrections then we will have the sun shining on us ..

9. Dharmaraja Vs Isipathana
The final league match of the Rajans was a heart-breaker as we lost to Isipathana by 17 - 19. At the lemons we were leading by 12 - 3. The spectators saw the best performance of Rajans rugby team in this season at this game. Mr Hisham Abdeen the vetern coach did a lot for the upliftment of the Rajans Rugby in a short time and we saw some tremendous improvement in the team.


The conclusion

Rajans 2010 Rugby season was not a good one for us as we started it with a huge defeat by TCK. Then won the game against the Cambrians and it gave a new hope for the Rajans Rugby fans. But again lost to Royal and struggled to get into the game as we continued the losing pattern. Before the match against Wesley college was played Rajans were in 8th position of the league table and we had a good chance of winning it. It was held in Kandy so we had a good bunch of supporters but all hell broke loose as we were comprehensively defeated by Wesley collage. This defeat was so crucial as it dragged us to 9th place and kicked us out of the Division 1A. With this unexpected defeat ORRFA took a vital decision to bring a consultant coach.. a match winner. It was the legend Mr Hisham Abdeen. Unfortunately he had very short time. At this time 5 of the key players of our team were injured including captain and his assistant. But Mr Abdeen did a great job and the team performed tremendously. The match against the SACK was lost after leading in the first half and in the game against Isipathana was the same. If we had his service from the beginning of the season we may have still be in Division 1-A.


As we fell into the losing path there was a big disfavour for the present coach Mr C.S Ekanayake. It continued to grow as the team showed very poor performance. Many good players switch the schools looking for better opportunities. Now everything is over and Dharmaraja College will fall into Division 1-B and have to fight back to get the lost pride. Now it’s the time for the officials to take things seriously and act wisely or the Rajans Rugby will die a slow death. There is a huge campaign to build a rugby stadium for Rajans and it is a very high budget project with long term plan. But if this trend is continued there won’t be a rugby team in our college to play in that ground. We must think and choose the correct decision for the sake of Rajans Rugby …

Another lesson is learned.. !