Waterpolo: Thomians beat Royal to take D.R.L. Hayman Trophy

The Blues rivals finished the second leg of their annual waterpolo game at 7-all but with an aggregate score of 18-14, S. Thomas’ College beat Royal College comprehensively to clinch the D.R.L. Hayman Trophy at the Sugathadasa Swimming Complex last Saturday (10).   This year’s Royal team was determined to end their streak of bad luck and the defending champs, the lads from Mt. Lavinia were back to stamp their supremacy and take the trophy home for the third consecutive year.   Their campaign for the trophy had a good start with the Thomians dominating the pool last week beating their opponents with a convincing score.   The match kicked off with Deelaka Weeraratna, a fourth year coloursman slamming the first goal of the day past the goalies reach into the nets for the winners and his teammate Sachitha Jayatileke playing at left bar was quick to follow to score an impressive goal to leave the Royalists trailing behind by two-nil in the first quarter.   The second quarter bought another stunner from Deelaka. Skipper Chandula Fernando scored the first goal for Royal providing his team with a glimmer of hope.   When the third quarter came around the pool was privy to a revitalised Royal team and Basith Yaqoob, Senith Samaranayaka and Anthony Wijewardhana scored a goal each for team bridging the gap between the two teams.   The last quarter saw a valiant attempt by the youngest of the Yaqoob clan and Kisal Assalarachi to give Royal the lead but Deelaka, the superstar of the encounter struck again diminishing hopes of gaining the trophy.   Deelaka, who played left bar, showed his supreme skill in the pool and was adjudged the most valuable player and quite well deserved with an accumulation of seven goals in the two-legged encounter -- four in the first leg and three in the second leg played on Saturday (10).   The Royalists suffered due to their clumsy ball handling and the mistakes they made in the pool gave way for the Thomians to dominate.   The scoreboard at the final whistle showed a draw with both teams scoring seven goals each but the Thomians took the D.R.L Hayman trophy accrediting their victory to their last week’s 11-7 victory in the first leg.   Royal College won the Mahinda Liyanage Trophy after winning the Under-15 encounter.