Trinity dazzle against shell shocked Royal 34-11

• Bradby Shield – 1st leg

By Milinda Gunawardena

It was that time of the year where all Royalists and Trinitians irrespective of where you are, get
together to witness the coveted ‘Bradby’ encounter between the two schools.

It was the 1st leg of the 68th encounter which was kicked off yesterday at the Royal Sports
Complex where Royal the only unbeaten team in the inter schools tournament were slight
favourites ahead of their rivals who had suffered one loss – a close game to St Peter’s early in the
season.

After an evenly contested first half and upto midway in the second the game remained evenly
poised with Trinity leading 13-8. However, in the last15 minutes or so the Trinitians posted 21
points through three goals with some powerful running aided by some luck and a Royal side
which seemed to have suddenly lost interest in the game.

Trinity scored 4 goals, 1 drop goal and a penalty to Royal’s 1 try and 2 penalties to blot the
latter’s unbeaten record this season..

Royal ran to the field making their intentions clear showing aggression earlier on but the
Trinitians stayed calm and it took only three minutes for the winners to add the first points on the
board through a brilliant 25m drop goal by Tharinda Ratwatte the Trinity fly half . 3-0.

Trinity dominated proceedings earlier on and scrum half Sanjaya Somasiri caught the Royal
final line of defense off guard and executed a perfect box kick down field getting his speedster
Darshana Udalagama to chase it and score the first try of the day which was converted with ease.
Just 15 minutes into the game and Trinity had a healthy 10 point lead.

Five minutes later, Royal’s Rimzi Jamaldeen closed the gap by putting over fairly easy penalty
and helped the home team to add the first points. 10 -3 and Thisila Devinda put over a penalty
for Trinity and extended their lead by 3 points 13-3. Trinity gave too many penalties away as
a result vice captain for Royal Iroshan De Alwis scored off a quick tap taken but Rimzi was
unsuccessful with the conversion to leave the scores at 13-8 at half time marking a disappointing
session for Royal who had more of the possession but could not make it count.

After the resumption Royal were continuously attacking yet not making much progress and a
few opportunities were squandered due to bad decision making by the Royal skipper to go for 3
unsuccessful drop goals. 20 minutes in the second half Thisila Devinda broke the line of defense
running a good 40m before he kicked a grubber for his wing three Lochana Girihagama who
failed to collect it cleanly and score.

It was Royal who dominated in the first 20 minutes of the second half before Trinity began their
late second half rally .Trinity had less possession and territorial advantage but they were always

dangerous with ball in hand and scored most times they came into the opposition 22m.

Ratwatte who had a brilliant outing managed to sneak his way through the Royal defense to
extend the lead 20-8 with Devinda’s conversion. With 10 minutes remaining Devinda took
an ambitious 45m penalty and nearly succeeded but it hit the posts and Trinity scored an
opportunistic try off the rebound. Udalagama chased after the rebound and caught the Royal
defense napping yet again to score and Devinda added the extra points with a well struck corner
flag conversion. 27-8 and surely the game had got away from the Royalists with 5 minutes left in
the clock.

However Trinity were not over yet, Sanchan Shiek the winger coming off the bench showed his
class scoring a brilliant try dragging a good 3 defenders with him to the try line.34-8 and Royal
scored the last points of the game with a consolation penalty put over by Rimzi Jamaldeen. 34-
11 at the final whistle and Trinity had displayed scintillating rugby and had come together with a
superb team effort to emerge victorious.

Royal on the other hand have lots to think about and will have to play exceptionally well in the
2nd leg, as at the moment the regaining the Bradby looks a daunting task. Ratwatte, Udalagama,
Devinda ,Halique Wadood and Somasiri were outstanding for Trinity.

Referee – Irshard Carder.