NO WAY. A Trinity player falls on the loose ball thus depriving Royal's Viraj de Silva from gaining possession of it. Trinity beat Royal 13-7 in the Bradby Shield second-leg encounter att he Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. Trinity also triumphed in the ffirst leg played at Bogambara a fortnight ago winning 19-10.
Pic by Dunstan Wickremaratne

• Shanaka, Kaushalya leave Royal gasping

Shanaka, Kaushalya leave Royal gasping

The spirit of the Bradby Shiled, however was dampened when soaring tempers by both players led to a brawl

By Ravi Nagahawatte

Those Trinitans, they looked unstoppable, indefatigable and most importantly, won back the Bradby Shield when they scored a smashing 13-7 victory over Royal in the second leg of their traditional rugby encounter at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.

All those who were present at the Bradby Shield rugby encounter yesterday witnessed champagne rugby.

And if one were to put that invincible performance in a nutshell it could best be described as a showdown of the champions.

Trinity simply proved that this Bradby Shield encounter was theirs.

They took the first leg with a 19-10 win. And sent the existing hoodoo, the losing side being the favourites to win in the second leg, into oblivion by winning yesterday.

And if there were two people who could be singled out for forcing the royalists to eat humble pie, it was Shanaka Kumara and Kaushalya Weeraratne.

Weeraratne, the cricketer turned ruggerite, burst into action when the game was 12 minutes old. He punched the first hole in the Royal defence with the team's first try.

The winger showed gazelle-like speed as he raced away to the try line, covering a distance of 45 metres after a team-mate commenced the move in their own half.

The Royalists looked jaded and lethargic in the second half, where Trinity dazzled.

However, a rare moment of joy came Royal's way when they earned a try through flanker Pavithra Fernando who bulldozed his way when the game was 25 minutes old.

However, the Royal goal line one again became a city without defences when Kumara crossed the line after a successful penalty kick taken earlier on.

The try which brought the Royalists to their knees came during injury time when Kumara brilliantly side-stepped the first tackle and scored with a player clinging on to him. The try went unconverted.

The spirit of the Bradby, however, was dampened when soaring tempers by players of both teams led to a 'Bradby brawl' just after the long blast of referee Nizam Jamaldeen.

Royal annexed the Simithriarachci Trophy when they beat Trinity 20-10 in the return fixture yesterday. Royal juniors won the first leg 11-10 in Kandy two weeks ago.

Two minutes silence was observed in memory of Dr. Sunil Weerasuriya, who passed away. He turned out for Royal in the 1933 encounter.