Trinity win second leg, but Royal retain the Shield
Coming out as a totally rebounded side from who they were a fortnight ago, Trinity College stunned their traditional rivals Royal College to record a close 26-21 win at the second leg of the 76th Bradby Shield encounter at Pallekele yesterday.
Trinity's Shaveen Premaratne barging through the Royal defence to touch down
Trinity had Royal in a completely different position from the kickoff itself, despite conceding a penalty when the game had not even completed its first minute. But from there, Trinity’s approach was far from imaginable, as Trinity scrumhalf Shaveen Premaratne starred throughout the 70 minutes to initiate openings, breakthroughs and gain advantage through his uncanny box kicks.
Trinity led the halftime 10-8 and scored from four unconverted tries and two penalties while Royal’s points came from three unconverted tries and two penalties.
Despite winning the game by a margin of five points, smiles and joy were nowhere near on the faces of players from both teams for obvious reasons. Trinity may have won the second leg, but the prestigious Bradby Shield travels back to Colombo to stay another year inside the trophy collection of the Reid Avenue School as Royal retains it with an aggregate score of 50-26.
Royal players too, were not in all smiles, as the game did not finish off as anticipated — a complete win of both legs. Royal takes custody of the Bradby Shield for yet another year and the seventh consecutive year since winning it in 2015 from Trinity after four long years.
Trinity had a major issue in failing to convert the penalties and conversions into points, while Royal were unable to form their weapon in arms, the rolling maul, at will as they would have liked to. Yet, Trinity capitalised as a fully regenerated side from the first leg, where Royal completely outplayed them to record a 29-0 win at the Royal College Sports Complex two weeks ago.
What shrugged within seconds from the kickoff when Royal were awarded a penalty to take an early lead of 3-0, would have indicated another onslaught but it was not meant to be in reality. Royal fullback Nabeel Yahiya was accurate as always in his kicks.
Trinity skipper and winger Lithmal Moragoda did not waste much of the time, when he broke away to breach through the Royal defence and score a stunning try on the right flank when the game was three minutes old. Flyhalf Kovida Wickramasinghe failed to add extra points as Trinity led 5-3.
Scrumhalf Premaratne, who was hyperactive throughout the game, made his presence felt in the eighth minute. He crossed over the line for Trinity as the hosts expanded the lead to 10-3, while Wickramasinghe was awkward in his conversion. Wickramasinghe easily averted Trinity from gaining more points, as he missed a straightforward penalty and a drop goal during the next phase.
Royal retained the Bradby for the seventh year running
Royal too were busy in creating inroads and were unfortunate not to take charge of the ball as they wished. But as and when they had possession of the ball, they were completely unbeatable. On the first of such four incidents, their first attempt of a try was not awarded as the TMO review showed that the ball was not grounded. But on the second attempt in the 27th minute, it was a stunning and breakaway try from playmaker and winger Pasindu Heshan, who received a perfect offload from the creative centre Philio Calyanaratne. With the conversion failing from a difficult angle, Royal trailed 8-10 by halftime.
After the turnaround Royal were able to gather their most precious weapon, the rolling maul from a lineout yards away from the tryline. It was hooker Dhanuja Samararatne who touched down in the 39th minute. Yahiya’s third attempt to the goal was unsuccessful as Royal regained the lead 13-10. Two minutes later Trinity’s Wickramasinghe finally got his kicking boots intact to put over a penalty and equal the scores 13-all.
It was Trinity who kept most of the possession even during the second half, and they managed to finally execute their attempts after playing in set pieces and breach the belligerent Royal defence in the 44th minute. Hooker Kaveesha Edema, after receiving the ball rolled over to plant a try, which was confirmed by the TMO after reviewing. Wickramasinghe failed again to put over an easy conversion.
In the 48th minute Trinity were awarded a penalty and the skipper handed Anuhas Kodituwakku the kicking duties to put it over and expand the lead to 21-13. A minute later Royal closed in by 16-21 after Yahiya put over a penalty, as they accelerated their attack with intentions of regaining the lead.
But they were only stunned by another breakaway try from Premaratne, who took matters to his own hand and decided to go all by himself from the halfway mark to score under-the-post. An easy conversion was missed by Kodituwakku as Trinity expanded the lead to 26-16.
Royal changed their approach and took measures to go into their usual mode of forming rolling mauls, as Samararatne completed yet another mission in the 62nd minute to crash down and stay within winning chances. But that was all Royal could do as the game ended 26-21 in favour of Trinity, before referee Gihan Yatawara blew the long whistle.