Trinity lion roared on home soil but the Royal roar was louder
Lock forward Sasith Siyath touches down to give Royal the early lead and momentum - Pix by M.A. Pushpakumara
Lock forward Sasitha Siyath could one day relate to his offspring on how he scored a hat-trick to lead Royal College beat their traditional rivals Trinity College 27-19 at Pallekele on May 5, 2018, as the Bradby Shield made its way back to the shelves at Reid Avenue for yet another year.
Siyath played the anchor role in a game that was expected to be a one-sided affair, scoring thrice for Royal, all at crucial points while Trinity did all what they could do to upset the apple cart.
Royal posted four tries in all with two of them ending up converted in addition to an early penalty to sum up their tally of 27points. Trinity had prop forward Praveenda Wijethilaka as their star performer who scored two out of the three tries and with two of them being converted as the hosts made up their 19 points.
With Royal recording a gallant 39-7 win in the first leg played at the Royal Sports Complex a fortnight ago, the Blue and Golds proudly retained the Bradby Shield with an aggregate of 66-26, a clear margin of 40 points.
The predictions were proved otherwise from the style of play the Trinitians dished out from the first whistle of Referee Rohan Fernando, who controlled the game with flair despite the wet weather. Fernando had very little trouble in conveying to the players of what ‘to do’ and what ‘not to’, yet on three occasions he issued yellow cards — two to Trinity and one to Royal.
Royal never had it easy as Trinity made it a point to counterattack on almost all the moves made by their opponents. The hosts even barged into the Royal’s 22 twice but failed to give the finishing touches, as Royal too played cautiously for almost 15 minutes. The clock just ticked the 16th minute when lock Sasitha Siyath made a charge to score his and Royal’s first try and with fullback Dulan Gunawardena failing with the conversion, the visitors led 5-0.
The Bradby Shield -- ready to make its way to Colombo again
The game had the same flow for another ten minutes as it was at the beginning until Royal was awarded a penalty, which Gunawardena successfully put over to take his team’s lead up to 8-0.
Royal gradually gained momentum with intentions of aiming for a bigger score, probably ahead of the feat of 88-0 they recorded in 2002. But out of nowhere came an attack from the Trinitians in the 31st minute and prop forward Praveenda Wijethilaka touched down. However Akitha Sakalasooriya failed with the conversion, Trinity trailed 5-8.
The expectations of a Trinity win was blooming with more attacks coming in from the home team, but Royal utilising their forwards judiciously, scored through prop forward Induwara Bimsara in the 36th minute. With yet another failed kick Royal took the breather at 13-5.
The change of the ends had the same effect as the start, but Siyath did not take much time to give Royal the third try and his second, in the 41st minute. Gunawardena’s kicking ratio became 4 out of 2 with the conversion as Royal expanded their lead to 20-5, sensing a big win. Despite the scoreline Trinity continued attacking for eight continuous minutes, while Royal too retaliated with perfection, until the home team was reduced to 14 with the sending off of Trinity No.8 Lennox Calyanaratne with a yellow card. However Royal failed to make maximum use of the 10 minutes.
One minute after Trinity regained its full force, Royal lost lock forward Fadhil Adahan for ten minutes off a yellow card. Unlike their opponents, Trinity struck opportunistically twice within three minutes to trail just by a point, after two converted tries. Prop Wijethilaka made a virtual three-quarter move in the 61st minute with his second try to reduce the deficit to 12-20, while three minutes later, winger Vishwa Ranaraja made a clean gather to cover almost 40metre, dash past a couple of Royalists to touch down under-the-post. Both tries were converted by Sakalasooriya to make it 20-19.
The Trinity supporters, suddenly came alive sniffing a possible victory. It was a matter of a try or a penalty for Trinity, who were evidently out of contention of regaining the Bradby. But Sasith Siyath, put matters beyond doubt, by bracing his third and Royal’s fourth, try. Fullback Maleesha Perera, converted as Royal expanded the lead to 27-19 and maintained to the end, despite Trinity’s attempt to score in the remaining few minutes.
| Royal win Simithrarachchi Trophy The Royal Under-18 team, prior to their senior game, set the foundation for a double by beating Trinity 13-8 to claim the Simithrarachchi Trophy. With the first led finishing off 14-8 in favour of Royal, they recorded an aggregate score of 27-16. At halftime Royal led 8-3 and they scored from two unconverted tries and a penalty. Trinity, who were the first to score with a penalty, also posted an unconverted try. | |