Who Can Make The Cut For The Cup Segment?
With 6 teams unbeaten after week 3 in the Schools' Rugby League, here are the rest who can still make it to the Top 2 of their groups for the Cup segment of Division 1!
With 3 of the 5 weeks done and dusted in Round, here's a very comprehensive summary of how the teams in the A division can make it to the Cup segment of the Dailog School's Rugby League, with 6 teams unbeaten so far and another 7 with a chance to still make it to the Super 6!
To start off, all three groups have two teams each with 'perfect wins', which is getting the bonus point (keeping a minimum of 4 tries) apart from winning which is worth 5 points. So far, defending champions St. Peter's, Wesley, S.Thomas', Isipathana, Royal and Trinity Colleges have the full 18 points and stand firm favourites to book a place in Round 2 with at least 1 more win needed unless the remaining teams spoil the party in their respective groups.
Who Will Upset The Apple Cart?
Before getting into how each of the remaining teams could make it to the Cup segment, we need to exclude all the teams that have less than 6 points so far, as two schools have already reached 18 points and earning another 12 will not get them beyond third place in the group. These teams are Science, St. Anthony's, Dharmaraja, Vidyartha and Thurstan Colleges, but will want to avoid the relegation and make it to the Bowl segment of the competition.
Now let's look at how the following teams can create an upset and enter the cup segment of the A division in the best or only possible way!
Group 1 A
D. S. Senanayaka College (11 points) - With only a solitary defeat so far and the most points outside the current Top 6 teams, DS should ideally beat both Science and St. Peter's Colleges with the bonus point, and also need Ananda to defeat Wesley as well to get at least second place in Group 1A.
Ananda College (7 points) - With only one win so far, Ananda have a more complicated scenario. Not only must they beat St. Anthony's and Wesley Colleges with bonus points but will also need DS to lose to Science and beat St. Peter's to get the second place with 19 points. If both Wesley and St. Peter's Colleges win at least one more game, it will be curtains for Ananda.
Group 2 A
Kingswood College (8 points )- With a win after many years, the Kingswoodians still have a chance for the Cup segment by winning their games against Mahanama and Dharmaraja (ideally with a bonus point in at least one), and also need either Isipathana or S.Thomas' to lose both their matches since either one of them will top the group with the final face off next week.
Zahira College (6 points) - With one win so far and losing narrowly last week, Zahira must win both their remaining matches against Isipathana and Mahanama with the bonus point, need Kingswood to lose at least one match and bottom rankers Dharmaraja to create an upset win over STC (who will play against Isipathana for the group top clash next week and both teams cannot record one more win).
Mahanama College (6 points)- With just one win, which was their first in A Division Rugby, Mahanama also still have a chance but must win both their remaining matches against Kingswood and Zahira with the bonus point, and also in the most favourable instance need S.Thomas' to remain unbeaten in the group for the second place while Zahira also must beat Isipathana.
Group 3 A
St. Joseph's College (10 points) - With all three possible match results so far, the Josephians have the daunting task of beating both Trinity and Sri Sumangala College Kandy (ideally with at least one bonus point), and also need the best possible scenario where Royal remain unbeaten in the group (beating Vidyartha this week and Trinity in the next).
Sri Sumangala College (6 points) - Also recording their first ever win in the A Division last week, winning both remaining games against Thurstan and St. Joseph's with the bonus point will not be enough. In the best possible scenario, either Trinity or Royal need to remain unbeaten while the other needs to lose both upcoming games without getting any bonus points (cannot keep more than 3 tries or lose within a margin of 7).
In conclusion, this week's results will determine who is still in the race for the Cup segment, while it should also be noted that some teams have alternate methods to qualify although only the best scenarios were explained, based on the current form of the other teams in their respective groups. See you again in week 5!