It seems that Royal has still not recovered from the shock given by Trinity two weeks ago in the Bradby Shield encounter. This time they played below form and almost took more than 50 minutes to have a ‘come back’ and see the try line. In the end Royal won the Michael Gunaratne Trophy over their traditional rivals S. Thomas’ by 22 Points (3 Tries, 2 Conversions, 1 Penalty) to 7 Points (1 Try, 1 conversion) at Mount Lavinia yesterday.
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| Royal skiper Aadil Jabbar makes a break against S. Thomas’ at Mount Lavinia yesterday. - Pic by Ranjith Perera |
At the short breather it was the home team who led by 7 points to nothing.
It was a below performance by a champion outfit without their skipper and pack leader Shehan Pathirane who is on national duty. They played very poorly and defended most part of the first half. Their ball handling is also a big question before their do-or-die game against St Peter’s.
On the other side of the coin S. Thomas, not a favorite to win, had no pressure on them. As a result their forwards played their heart out. They tackled and kept the ball with their forwards for most part of the initial half. They worked on a selective basis but their line looked very ordinary. If not for a few crooked throws by the hooker the entire forwards had a grand outing.
Royal also played with positional changes. Skipper and hooker Aadil Jabbar and flanker Wasim Bawa both had a grand outing after settling down in the second half.
Thomains drew first blood in the 6th minute when their nippy scrum half Chandi Samarasinghe caught a few Royal defenders off guard to score. Full Back Gavin Jayasinghe added the extra 2 points to take a shock 7 to nothing lead. Thomain forwards who kept on attacking got two kickable penalties but their place kicker Gavin Jayasinghe was off target.
After the turn, 20 minutes into the half, Royal scored through a Arshad Jamaldeen penalty. Royal once more opted to work the line and ended with their winger Rimzi Jamaldeen scoring a superb running try to touch down mid right. Fly Half Arshad Jamaldeen added the extra points to take a 10-7 lead in favour of Royal. Wasim Bawa who was in thick of things scored far left collecting a loose ball. The conversion was unsuccessful by Arshad Jamaldeen.
Stocky Hooker Yaaseen Yousuf scored Royal’s last try which was converted by Arshad Jamaldeen to give Royal a 22-7 win.
The Michael Gunaratne Trophy which commenced in 1962 between these two schools with Royal leading 27 to the Thomains’ 17 and 5 draws. Royal has continued their winning streak from 2006-2011 (6 years in- a-row). The last time the Thomians won the Trophy in 2005 under Namal Rajapaksa.
Referee: Dimithra Gunasekera
Touch Judges: Mohamed Ashraff and Irshad Ariff
In the Under 18 game played earlier S. Thomas’ beat Royal 12-5. |
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