God may save the Queen, but Qeen’s name is likely to be Matilda, come Sunday morning. Watching the warm up games over August, I told my rose waving rugby buddy that I feared his team might not make it out of the Group of Death. He laughed, and then was annoyed. Much like the English rugby public are going to ...
Watched a lot of rugby of the last four days. I was lucky enough to go up to Nawalapitiya for the Carlton Sevens domestic leg. It was good fun despite the weather. Some excellent players on show and good talent for the future of Sri Lankan rugby. How these guys blend with the foreign starts will be a treat to ...
Poor old Dimuth Karunaratne was the latest casualty in the Sri Lankan camp yesterday, picking up a broken finger at practice. He follows the previous hamstring injury of Jeevan Mendis and the broken hand of Dhammika Prasad which happened early on in the piece. Prasad seemed a genuine injury. His hand was well and truly broken and a fast bowler ...
This weekend saw some interesting rugby matches. Royal v Peters was entertaining and had some good technically superior rugby shown by both teams. Science and Patana did the same. Both games yielded 21 tries, which is really good entertainment for those who buy tickets or watch online. STC and SJC then contrived to play out an exciting, if slightly comical ...
So Sri Lankan won the seventh and final game of the series and Kumar Sangakkara had a scorcher of a game. He became the highest run scorer in Sri Lankan ODI history, surpassing the record of current Chief Selector Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the most successful wicket keeper in ODI’s surpassing Adam Gilchrist’s 472 scalps. He also got 113 ...
At the time of writing, there are two cricket matches going on which I’d rather be at. But I’m diligent. And work hard. Really. Sri Lanka are playing Bangladesh in Galle, and what were the chances that Kumar Sangakkara wouldn’t score a hundred? Dimuth Karunaratne scored 41, will be nice to see him getting some big ones though – have ...
Facebook is a really hilarious place the day after the Bradby. So many people begin with the caveat ‘I’m no expert on rugby’….but they continue to spout their bullshit. Classic. People emerge – Royalists and Trinitians alike – watch one rugby match for the entire season and are dismayed when their team doesn’t play like the All Blacks. Madness. Trinity ...
No doubt, the opposite camp has wanted to get in on the act, after the e mail I published from a Royalist friend of mine. Here is Trinity’s rejoinder. No need to really say much on the subject myself. “I’m a Trinitian. A completely unknown one I might add. I have been a huge fan of Rugby ever since a ...
The second week of Dialog Rugby had some good games and an upset, when Army overturned the fancied Upcountry Lions. The Lions though will have the services of Joketani Raikabula on hand this week, and he will want to put a few tries on the board for his careless red card two weeks ago. The match of the weekend is ...
These Madagascans are superb. I don’t know how they do it, but they beat Poland 25 – 21 yesterday and also triumphed against hosts Sri Lanka 17 – 12 in the opening game of the Dialog Serendib Cup, to win the trophy unbeaten. Watching them warm up, you’d be excused for thinking that they are a bunch of kids who’ve ...
I haven’t blogged in a long time. There’s reasons for that though. I’ve been pretty stuck with work and trying to work off some stubbornly irritating fat, and inconsiderately tight IT bands. Also trying to get back on the bike. Literally. Apart from that also, I’ve been getting a little depressed about sport. So I haven’t really felt up to ...
Royal were never going to keel over and gift the Hayman to St. Thomas’ on Saturday at the Sugathadasa Stadium pool. Those days are past. Now it’s a real contest. Buoyed by their come back win from two years ago Royal started the game off brightly. A two goal cushion isn’t always great, but it’s better than one, and with ...
When Sanath Jayasuriya, the chief selector, got his heart problems, he obviously wasn’t having as much input on the selections and someone else was calling the shots while he recuperated. Otherwise it’s difficult to explain the picking of four spinners in the deciding one dayer at Hambantota. Jayasuriya has generally been spot on with his selections and has not been ...
What a mad day yesterday. It was pouring rain for the two National’s Waterpolo finals at Sugathadasa. Didn’t help the players, certainly didn’t help the spectators. I was giving live commentary for thescore.lk and midway through the second quarter of the women’s game the wind changed direction and the fecking rain just bucketed into the stand. Crazy. Laptop wet, camera ...
The first leg of the 22nd Dr. RL Hayman Trophy water polo encounter between Royal and S. Thomas’ was worked off on Saturday at the Sugathadasa Stadium. The game began and 5.30 and I’m not sure this is ideal as it begins in daylight and ends in a different light. This transition is always difficult for players, and perhaps the ...
I’ve always wanted to say that line around a Polish person. Given how big all the Poles were, I thought better than to do it though, and also that they probably hadn’t watched Fawlty Towers in order to appreciate the hilarity of that line. John Cleese, you legend. Sri Lanka, after a Manuel like performance against Madagascar, came out with ...
I like threesomes. But as luck would have it I’m not going to be a part of this one either. Sri Lanka Waterpolo hosts the visiting Maharashtra State team and together with the SLNational team and Development Team, will be part of a triangular tournament this weekend. I wrote last year that this is exactly the sort of tournament that ...
Although nothing much matters on Bradby weekend there are still a few games to be played. Let’s have a look at those first before moving on to the biggie. St. Joseph’s should easily beat DSS today. Not a problem. SPC taken on SACK tomorrow up in Bogambara. Conditions underfoot won’t be so runner friendly so it will be an interesting ...
Navy saved their final torpedo for Havelock Park, and ended the Dialog Rugby A Division League as unbeaten champions. It was a superlative achievement as the league was even more competitive than it was last year. Coming into the final weekend, the only thing left to determine was whether or not Navy would lift the shield unbeaten, and at a ...