ST. JOSEPH’S UNDETERRED, WILL BOUNCE BACK
St. Joseph’s had an inauspicious start to the Under 19 inter-schools rugby season when they underwent a defeat to Vidyartha which also was also the first match of the tournament. But they are undeterred as they will strive to remedy their shortcomings and will make an effort to fight and bounce back with six more matches to be played before the super round gets underway.
So the setback is not going to dash their hopes because the tournament has a long way to go, but on the other side they are at a disadvantage as they have lost many of the players of the previous year, but the side guided by one of the most experienced coaches along with assistants and led by No 8 Vishika Fernando will leave no stone unturned to achieve the goals that they are aiming.
Skipper Fernando with four more senior players in the side in deputy Janith Marasinghe, Beeshama Jayasekera, Senithu Uthumange and Ivano White for sure will need to put in their best foot forward along with the young aspirants if they are seeking to make a comeback.
The Josephians who have been training hard since early this year and has mentioned will be banking on young aspirants from whom much will be expected to fulfil their aim of laying the hands on the league title but they have won the knockout once in the year 2017 when they defeated Isipathana and have been runners up twice in 2018 losing to traditional rivals St. Peter’s and in 2022 to Isipathana.
However their next assignment against Zahira is going to be crucial and the final outcome of this could see where they stand if they are seeking to make any impression.