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Playing for what is left of pride in them
By Aubrey Kuruppu
How many points is home advantage worth? That is the question that will be foremost in the minds of Trinity's ruggrites when they enter the field for the second leg of the Bradby Shield on Saturday 21st August.

Bruised physically and battered mentally after that excellent demolition job (41-6) done by the Royalists - (a confident and highly-skilled outfit), Trinity will be hoping that the surrounding hills will echo to the stirring of vocal support provided by the fans from their locality.

Realistically can Trinity win the Bradby? The question is purely academic. The leeway of 35 points is well night impossible to make up. Assuming that Trinity do pile in the points, can it be taken for granted that the Royalists will stand by idly, watching the mayhem? They are bound to add some points of their own, surely! So, Trinity have obviously kiss goodbye to their chances and the saving-grace would be a spirited performances or even a win (is the latter too far-fetched?) in the second leg. Trinity head the Bradby tally overall with 32 wins to Royal's 26. The Royalists are gunning for their fourth win in a row, and for their eighth win in a row in individual games. The hottest winning steak in Bradby history belongs to the Kandy school who won from 1952 to 1957.

S.V. Ranasinghe's Trinity team of 1976 lost the Bradby by 61 points to 6 (36-0 and 25-6) while in more recent times, the Kandy lads were outgunned 39-0 and 44-0 in 2002 under the leadership of N.S. Mendis. No doubt, Trinitians of all ages and of all shapes and sizes will heave collective sighs of relief of the present team can restrict Royal to an under 83 tally. What ailed Trinity rugby on that fateful Saturday? In an attempt to get at the answer, The Sunday Times spoke to three persons who have a stake in Trinity rugby.

The first, a prominent old boy and rugby player, felt that the team simply had an off day. The basics were all wrong, said he collecting the high ball, tackling how and falling on the ball were some of the areas that were glaringly deficient. He was adamant that you cannot put all this down to lack of practice. A former Trinity full back opined that "there was just no leadership". The injury-stricken captain was not on the field and the players were undecided regarding ' Just about everything '.

They didn't seem to know what to do when a penalty was awarded. The team seldom played as an unit. They were simply baffled after Royal's second try, and never tried to get back into the game. The wing three quarter and the full back kept working up at the high ball and were undecided what to do. A source close to the team put it all down to poor scrumaging. "The Trinity pack was heavier than that of Royal yet the former was pushed back time and again. Too many penalties were conceded early on due to poor scrumaging. Royal at times, gained 50-60 yards through long kicks". "However all is not gloom for Trinity", he says. "They didn't seem to have one last match, but for the return, they must have a plan and try to execute it". He had spotted that the opposing full back was weak against the high ball. This chink in Royal's armour must be exploited. Isipathana did so with some success, he concluded.

Coming back to next week's game, the Royalists cannot afford to drop their guard. They shouldn't take it for granted that they only have turn up, to win. Strengthened immeasurably by their three national players --Jayawardena, Dissanaike (he was sin binned last Saturday) and Bahudeen, the Royalists are certainly the more talented and exciting team. The supporting cast, though not awesome, have put their shoulders to the wheel. Lock Dhammika Rajapakse has almost made try-scoring a habit. Rasheed played spiritedly and Warun Wijewardena put his experience to good use.

Trinity's problems started in the first game against Vidyartha when skipper Ayaz Ainaff limped off with a leg injury -- He has not come back as yet and his chances of taking the field next Saturday are almost non existent. In his absence, the lack of leadership has been all too obvious. Ainaff's injury apart, there have been quite a few injury worries, with the latest being Munaweera's ham-string and Manikkam's ligaments problems. Why has Trinity been plagued by so many injuries? Has the training been defective? Stung to the quick by that humiliation, Trinity are determined to hit back hard. After that unmatched humiliation in 2002, the Trinitians did well to run Royal quite close last year. They can draw inspiration from that.

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