Lions roar on home turf
Trinity performed their now-famous late assault to a nicety to add 29 points in a second half that they dominated and beat Royal in the opening leg of the 69th Bradby first leg by a wholesome 37 points (5 tries, 3 penalties and a drop goal) to 25 (2 goals, 1 try, 2 penalties) at Pallekele yesterday.
The half time tally was in Royal’s favour at 18-8. Their game plan was simple. It consisted of kicking deep into the corners of Trinity territory and then endeavouring to take it from there. This strategy was followed to the letter and the Trinitians seemed short of ideas and ways to counter it. Jamaldeen applied to the boot nine times out of ten and the rampaging Royal pack pounced on the opportunities.
A Trinity player runs into a nasty tackle by a Royal player - Pic by Amila Gamage
A simple Ratwatte penalty opened the scoring. It may have been nerves, but in those early exchanges, Royal were penalised a few times for their errors. On top of all that, the reliable Jamaldeen missed out on a penalty conversion that veered away from the right upright.
The Reid Avenue lads got their first, real opportunity in the 21st minute. A line out a few yards from the Trinity line saw hooker Shoaib Jabbar wriggle his way over the goal line for Royal to lead 5-3. Royal did some excellent line out work at this stage. Their forwards really waded into the Trinity backs and this had an unsettling effect on the Lions. Trinity seemed to have no game plan at times in the first half. A dreadful error by a Royal defender, who in attempting to push the ball back into play, handed it on a platter to winger Lakvin Gunasekera who dived over. (8-5 Trinity).
A bit of Jamaldeen brilliance accounted for Royal’s second try. He first tried to power his way through just inside the Trinity 22. The next moment when the ball came his way, he ran across, angled his body beautifully and dummied past the last defender to score. Devin de Silva converted.
Royal had a scare when Ratwatte chipped and Trinity charged. A desperate dive by a Royalist, who somehow managed to fall on the ball, averted a dangerous situation.
Referee Jonathan Kaplan, was alike to a dangerous late tackle and Jamaldeen slotted it through from 40 yards out to take lemons at 18-8 in their favour.
One felt that Trinity’s defense was not up to expectations. There was a lurking suspicion that Royal would find it more difficult if the Lions got it organized.
What happened to Royal in the second half was difficulty to fathom. They did not, or couldn’t, execute their game plan. Not surprisingly, play-maker Ratwatte kicked judiciously and slung the ball out at will and this sudden surge by Trinity was too much for Royal to withstand.
Trinity reduced the deficit early in the second half when fullback Sanchana Sheik ran around the last defender and fell over (18-13 Royal). Sheik had formed the overlap and a long pass from Ratwatte did the trick.
Ratwatte, ideally placed, put over a fairly simple drop goal to make it 16-18. Trinity were showing greater urgency and Ratwatte collected the ball from a Royal kick, which was charged down, and went over as cool as a cucumber near the corner flag. Trinity had taken the lead (21-18). Trinity’s backs handled the ball beautifully as they ran it down the line and gave winger Lakvin Gunasekera a clear passage, (26-18).
Royal had a bit left in the tank. It was their turn to attack when the ball came out from a ruck and a Trinitian failed to gather. Prop Thivanka Perera fell over and the skipper put it over (26-25).
Fly half Ratwatte gave his supporters a score when he converted a penalty – the ball just grazing the inside of the right upright (29-25). Another penalty effort by Ratwatte saw the Lions extend their hard-won lead (32-25).
The final nail in Royal’s coffin came when one of their defenders on the goal line was deceived by the bounce. Lock Isuru Rangala was at hand to touch down.
Credit should go to the two teams for a close-fought match which was played all along in a clean way.
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