Royal fend off Lions to retain Bradby Shield
Royal retained the Bradby Shield after the second leg win in Colombo at the 77th edition - Pix by Akila Jayawardena
Royal College put their disappointing performance at Pallakelle to rest and played a ferocious game to beat Trinity College 27-17 at their home grounds yesterday, which helped them retain the Bradby Shield at its 77th edition, but not without a fright.
With this win Royal has retained Sri Lanka’s school’s blue ribbon rugby encounter, the Bradby Shield for a record seven years in succession and made amends in the second leg after losing the first leg by three points at Pallakelle a fortnight ago.
Royal played up to their true potential, making use of their trademark rolling maul and successfully turning their efforts into crucial points. Yet, they were harsh and handed three yellow cards by referee Gihan Yatawara to Yovindu Ethugala, Disas Pathirana and Pabasara Samarakoon. The eventual winners were down to 13 men at a point, yet managed to guard their territory preventing Trinity from capitalising.
Trinity made a considerable amount of unforced errors and lost Senula Alexander for 10 minutes earlier in the game. They were able to emulate the rolling maul effectively, which would have made the Royal coach surely proud.
With an aggregate score of 37-30, Royal keeps the Bradby Shield at Reid Avenue since 2015, after Trinity won it four successive years prior to that. The game changing try was braced by winger Nabeel Yahiya, who rested the doubts of a possible Trinity comeback in the 60th minute, after Royal had maintained a breakable deficit.
It was Trinity who made an early inroad when a Royal defender missed a high ball of a Trinity drop goal attempt and was cleanly collected by winger Sashika Wanasekera who scored under the post in the third minute. Flyhalf Shan Althaf’s conversion made it 7-0 as Trinity alarmed their intentions.
But Royal hit back immediately with their classic pick and drive by their heavy set of forwards for Thineth Gamage to score on the right-side of the post in the 13th minute. With the failed conversion they trailed 5-7.
Trinity lock Senula Alexander was yellow carded for a repeated offside offense which was put to good use in the 17th minute as a sequence of pick and drives by the Royal forwards which was illegally countered by the Trinity pack forcing the referee to award a penalty try. The conversion was made by Royal deputy skipper Thiven Perera to take his team to a 12-7 lead.
Trinity cut down the deficit in the 25th minute after receiving a penalty for an offside offense by their opponents as Althaf put over an easy kick to trail close behind at 10-12. By this time the game was played at a ferocious pace as Royal forwards dominated their counterparts with their trademark rolling maul, which was ineffective in Kandy. This worked wonders in Colombo for second row, Buwaneka Senanayake to touch down on the right flank in the 31st minute. Despite missing out on the conversion Royal led by 17-10 by halftime.
Nabeel Yahiya, coming into the game from the bench, wasted no time to score a spectacular try for Royal
Trinity returned to the game in the 45th minute with a superbly executed rolling maul of a 15-yard lineout. An offence of stiff arm by Royal flanker Disas Pathirana, who was sin-binned, Trinity levelled the scores at 17-all with a penalty try awarded.
On the 55th minute Royal kicked a penalty to touch and set up for their customary rolling mail with forward Afeef Akram falling over the right flank. After another missed conversion Royal regained the lead 22-17. Royal extended their lead five minutes later, with a superb chip kick by winger Amika Samarasinghe, which was collected by outside winger Nabil Yehiya, who just came in from the bench to score on the right flank after covering a good distance. With another failed conversion Royal extended their lead by 27-17.
In the final 10 minutes of play Trinity had many chances to score on broken play but couldn’t convert their efforts into points due to handling errors and lack of structured play, while Royalists’ drift defense lived up to its reputation of not letting the opponents pass through. At the long whistle Royal sealed the game with an aggregate score of 37-30 from the combined legs of the 77th Bradby Shield encounter.