Lions roar in Royal den
Trinity College’s opening bid to retain the Bradby Shield was tainted by a trail of uncharacteristic errors, but that is unlikely to rob
OUT OF MY WAY … Trinity skipper Tarinda Ratwatte makes a break with the Royal forwards making a desperate attempt to stop him
them of the joie de vivre they will shoulder as they return to Kandy after punching past a relentless Royal College 28 (2 goals, 1 try, 2 penalties, 1 drop goal)-16 (1 goal, 3 penalties), during the first leg of the Bradby, played at the Royal Sports complex yesterday.
This one was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests and both teams stayed close until deep into the second half when Trinity threw open the door with their thunderous movement.
The Trinitians piled on their points through skipper Tarinda Ratwatte, winger Lochana Girihagama and fullbacks Sanchana Sheik and Sachintha Dissanayake. The home team were just as industrious on the attack, lynching points through the brilliance of their captain and fullback Nimshan Jayawardena.
Royal opened with all the determination of a team hell-bent on wresting back possession of lost property, charging deep into Trinity territory with red mist in their eyes. The reckless abandon of their manic stampede towards goal-ward glory proved to be their undoing early though, as Girihagama slid his way into one of Royal’s passing channels in the second minute to tear down nearly the entire length of the field cradling his intercepted prize and plant it over the try line. Ratwatte widened the smiles of the visiting spectators by putting through the conversion.
Royal promptly regrouped to assert their presence on the scoreline with a successful penalty five minutes later from Jayawardena.
Trinity and Royal players clash head on – Pictures by Amila Gamage
However, the collective sigh of relief from Reid Avenue’s faithful quickly transformed into a deathly gasp of horror as Trinity put on their game face and produced a sublime lesson from their usually exquisite offensive master class.
The ball traveled through Royal’s defence on an enrapturing wave of red, blue and gold before cresting perfectly into the hands of Sheik, who crashed over the try line with equal magnificence.
Down 14-3 and Royal’s Bradby portrait, which at the beginning of the contest was marked with thick strokes of hope, was taking on an increasingly dreary hue.
Things grew still more despondent for the Royalists as Ratwatte slotted over another penalty 13 minutes later but Jayawardena stopped the decline with a top drawer try which he converted.
He then steered the momentum towards his corner with a penalty on the brink of halftime, to leave them trailing marginally at 17-13.
Jayawardena picked up from where he left off after the restart, knocking over a penalty after two minutes to cut down the decibels on the previously roaring Trinity Lions
A Royal player breaks free
The reversal in dominance was palpable, and Trinity now looked disjointed and less assured, spawning a spate of knock-ons. It was then the turn of Trinity’s skipper Ratwatte to get his team back into the game as he pulled out a drop goal in the 53rd minute and thumped home a penalty 11 minutes later.
The 23-16 lead he built was then expanded three minutes later. After the ball bobbled down the left of the field, Dissanayake safely corralled it to give his team a roof-raising try, which Ratwatte failed to convert. This miss will not deprive him of any sleep though as his team’s gritty work away from home moved him a significant step closer to a place in the pantheon of champion Trinity captains with Bradby glory attached to their name.