Bradby goes back to Reid Avenue It’s R-O-Y-A-L

Royal regained the coveted Bradby Shield after three long years with a hard fought 15 points (1 goal, 1 try and 1 penalty) to 11 (1 try and 2 penalties) win in the second leg played at the Royal College Sports Complex yesterday. The home side going in to the second leg with an eight point cushion following their first leg victory in Kandy by 20 points to 12, were rattled by the visitors in the first half. In just the second minute of play Royal were penalized and Trinity’s stand off Cinci Siegertsz converted the resulting penalty.

Royal seemed to wake up and put pressure on their opponents right from that set back. This paid dividends with Number Eight Bilal Hassan going over for a well worked out try. Fullback Shailendra Chandrasegar missed the conversion which many thought would be costly at the time. Just five minutes later Royal were penalized for not retreating the required ten metres and Siegertsz put over his second penalty to put Trinity into the lead yet again. Three minutes later Chandrasegar missed a relatively easy penalty for Royal.

Trinity’s skipper and second rower Sean Wanigasekera despite suffering from a knee injury was joining the line at every given opportunity. With over 25 minutes gone Wanigasekera made yet another line break and his side recycled the ball quickly for centre Vishwajith Wijesinghe to touch down near the left corner flag. Siegertsz missed the difficult conversion.

The numbers game came in to play seven minuets later when Trinity’s prop Sathya Ranatunge was sent to the sin bin. Royal who more or less were camped near Trinity’s line at the time made it count with loose head prop Nikira Senanayake touching down. This time Chandrasegar made no mistake with the conversion.

Royal went to lemons with a slender 12 points to 11 lead.

Trinity started the second half the way they started the first. Wanigasekera was a constant thorn in Royal’s side with darting runs needing more than two players to bring him down. Unfortunately for the boys from Kandy, a critical knock on with the try line in sight cost them dearly. Royal once again woke up from their slumber and launched a sustained counter attack. But the home side suffered the same fate as the visitors. And sadly for both teams, the knock-on’s with the try line beckoning happened on several occasions during the second half partly due to the muddy ball.

Trinity needing to score twice including a converted try tried repeatedly but were held by a dogged defensive display by their opponents. On the contrary Trinity was unable to score at all in the second half as both teams shared possession and territory. The only scoring was a simple penalty which Chandrasegar put over with ease to further increase Royal’s lead. Trinity’s loose head prop Ruzni Ramzeen became the second player to be sin binned for blatantly stamping on Royal’s Janith Samarasinghe.

Trinity launched one final assault on Royal’s line in the dying stages of the game. And as usual leading the charge was Wanigasekera who was visibly fighting the pain barrier as he attempted to lead his side to glory. However, Royal’s defence held clearing the ball time and time again to emerge victorious at the final whistle.

Referee: Orville Fernando

Yellow Cards: Sathya Ranatunge (Trinity) and Ruzni Ramzeen (Trinity)

Royal made it a glorious double by claiming the C. Simithriarachchi trophy outright for the first time in eight years with a 18 points to nil drubbing of Trinity in the under 18 game. Trinity had a lead of 16 points going in to the second leg.