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Powerful Royal hold the edge
By Shamseer Jaleel in Colombo
It's Bradby Shield time once again. The talk is on rugby at Royal and Trinity. Over the years this annual confrontation has always been a close one except for a few occasions. In some years even when one of the teams has been weak, the weaker side has fought valiantly against the odds-and even won.

Both schools will lock horns in the first leg of the 59th Bradby Shield on July 19 at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy. The Under-17 game will be at 3.30 and the 1st XV game will be at 4.45 p.m.

"The Bradby" is a much look forward social event not only for the old boys of both schools but also for the general public. The lads from Kandy won the initial Bradby which was played in 1945. Though they lost the first leg by 3 points to nil they came back to win the second leg by 6 points to nil. So far in 58 encounters it was only in 1992 that the Bradby has ended in a tie. The first leg ended in a nil all draw and the second leg with the scores level at 3 points. Himesh Gunatilake led the 1992 Trinity side and the Royal side was led by Harindu Wijesinghe.

Trinity's best victory was in the year 1996 when Suranga Amarasinghe led the Kandy school to victory by 30 points to 3 in the first leg and in the second leg by 12 points to 3. Royal's best win was last year (2002) when the Reid Avenue School thrashed the Trinitians by a huge aggregate of 83 points in both legs. Trinity are leading the tally with 32 wins to Royal's 25 with the one tie.

Royal opened the season this year by playing Dharmaraja in Kandy, which they won convincingly by 45 points to nil. They met the lads from Katugastota in the second outing. After a thrilling game Royal edged out the Katugastota lads by 10 points to 7. Then there was bitter taste for them as they faced defeat for the first time at the hands of the Wesley by 22 points to 18.

This was Royal's first defeat after starting to play the Campbell Park school way back in 1958 and this is also the first time they have lost a game at their newly built Sports Complex. This was good learning curve for the Royalist as one wonders whether the Reid Avenue boys were over confident for this particular encounter.

They came back very strongly in their next encounter against Isipathana played for the Major Milory Fernando memorial trophy. This victory was more significant because they broke the deadlock after two years, which failed to produce results. With this victory over the green shirts they not only retained the Major Milory Fernando memorial trophy but also came one step closer to regaining the Milo "A" rugby title. Royal played as a unit with their forwards clicking well with the three-quarters. With Royal playing cohesive rugby, they rattled the green shirts from the kick-off.

In this game their fly half Varuna Wijewardena was in excellent form as he ran through the entire Pathana defence by scoring two spectacular tries. Their flanker Avaiz Rasheed also had a grand game after his brief illness.

Third year coloursmen and Sri Lanka national player Rajith Jayasundera will lead Royal side this year. Speaking to The Sunday Times he said that they don't want to take a chance against the Trinitians though they are in the "B" Division and have lost three matches. They are all out to come up with an excellent performance.

"We want to score as much as possible which will reduce the pressure for the second leg," said Jayasundare who has represented the national team at the Asian Games held in Pusan, Korea and the Asiad in Thailand. He also captained the Youth team at the Junior Asiad held in Hong Kong early this year. He was part of the national team for the IRB-ARFU Quadrangular series matches against Japan and the Arabian Gulf. His deputy is the strongly built national player Lakshman Dissanayake. He made his debut at the Asian Games in Korea and also played for the Youth team at the Junior Asiad in Hong Kong.

The good news for Royal is that as many as 14 players from this year's side will turn out for them again next year. The side is coached by one of the old boy's C.P. Abeygoonawardena who has loads of experience having helped the star-studded Kandy SC to win many trophies during his stints. He was in the Hong Kong 7s side which won the Bowl under Hisham Abdeen. His deputy will be former Pathana and Sri Lankan fly half Nizam Jamaldeen who played for Police SC from 1985-1999 with a lot of success. He is also the leading IRB rated referee available in the country.

Though Trinity started the season well, they lost their rhythm mid way. Since their officials did not attend the fixture meeting, the boys were at the receiving end, having to travel to Colombo on three consecutive weeks. Trinity was a dominant team in schools rugby in the 70s, 80s and early 90s but the trend has been heading downwards in the recent past. To add to their worries, they have been demoted to the "B" Division this year.

They started the season with the match against the home town school Vidyartha, which they won by 22, point to 3 even though they did not perform up to standard. They travelled down to Colombo to meet the defending Milo "A" division champs St. Peter's which had some big names in their side. Though the lads from Kandy came as underdogs they gave a lion hearted display by holding the champion side to a 20 points each draw. Next came the game against Isipathana. The lads from Havelock Town outclassed the Lions by 26 points to 17.

They travelled for the third consecutive week to Colombo to scrum down against the Thomians where they lost by 27 points to 10. Their fifth encounter was against their hometown rivals St. Anthony's which they lost for the fifth consecutive year by 22 points to 10.

Trinity's preparation for the Bradby Shield was further dampened when Sri Rahula and St. Sylvester's pulled out of their matches due to reasons best known to them. Trinity have just one mach before the first leg when they will have a warm up match against the Old Boys today. The chief guest of the first leg will be the 1965 Trinity rugby and cricket captain M.T.M. Zarook, a double Lion.

He was a nippy scrum-half, and played with giants of the day such as Glenn Vanlangenburg, Ajit Abeyratne, Shafie Jainudeen, Imitiaz, Ifthikar Hamid and the present Trinity asst. coach Alex Lazarus.

Can Trinity prevent Bradby hat-trick?
By Aubrey Kuruppu in Kandy
Trinity's ruggerites set out this season to accomplish a mission. That was to go at least part of the way towards recapturing some of their past rugby glories. The picture at the end of last season couldn't have been bleaker. They had been beaten black and blue by almost every team save for the lads in blue and black whom they unexpectedly devoured. The Bradby was a shambles: 83 points conceded in the two games and a record established for the series.

The nadir of their fortunes was their demotion to the lower rung of school rugby. One questions the wisdom of meting out such a harsh fate to a school that has shone so brilliantly in the rugby firmament. One poor, even horrible, season and swift relegation dispensed. Rules must be followed, so they say ! No disrespect meant, but rugby greats such as the senior Maralande, Philip Bultjens, Kavan Rambukwella and others must surely be turning in their graves.

Those still amongst us (Sahayam, Vanlangenburg, Howie et al) must be grimacing and squirming, and looking for a hiding-place when reminded of the fate that has befallen their beloved alma mater.

The Trinitians led by number eight Migara Maddumapatabendi have certainly dished out improved performances. Starting off with a comfortable 22/3 win over Vidyartha, the Trinitians next held the supposedly superior Peterites to a 20 all draws. The invincible Pathans were next. The margin (26-17) indicates that the game was a close one and that there was honour in defeat. Old, bad memories were revived when the Thomians whipped them 27-10. The Anthonians capitalized on the situation to beat their home-town rivals once again (22-10).

Since that game, the Trinity lads have had time off to attend to injuries, wounds etc. and also probably bruised egos (if there are any). One or two schools have not kept their fixtures much to Trinity's chagrin.

So, Trinity could be going into that all-important 59th Bradby more than a trifle underdone. They could take some consolation from the fact that the Royalists led by the talented Rajith Jayasundara are a little less formidable than they were in 2002. They have just about lorded it over everyone thus far, with the exemption of Wesley who stunned them into subdued silence.

Trinity is by no means the perfect outfit. Rugby analysts feel that the handling of the back division is not what it should be and that it lacks a bit of speed. Not enough power-running among the backs.

The problems extend to the lineouts where the jumping is not of the highest quality and the throw-ins not good enough. A lack of finish and an inability to take quick decisions are two deficiencies that have been pointed out.

It is common knowledge that Trinity's strength lies in their superb third row comprising Senarath, Jayakody and the skipper. But the lad who has nearly outstripped everyone else has been full back. Saliya Kumara (who joined the School from neighbouring Vidyaratha) who has scored around eighty percent of their points.

Finally the Trinitians will not go into battle with a defeatist attitude. The odds stacked against them are not as high as they were last year. A win is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Trinity (likely) team - A. Muthalib, R. Munaweera, N. Thilinikumara, M. Manickam, E. Senanayake, B. Jayakodi, D. Senarath, M. Maddumpatabendi (Capt), S. Jayasundara, A. Ainaff, N. Fernando, X. Muneer, H. Jayasuriya, M. Mendis, S. Kumara.

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