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The eagerly awaited confrontation between the only unbeaten teams in the schools rugby scene this year Royal College and Isipatana College for the Major Milroy Fernando Trophy will take place on June 29 (Saturday) at Longden Place.

The Royalists have beaten Zahira (57-6), St. Peter's (24-12), Ananda (20-3), St. Anthony's (34-14) and S. Thomas (38-3) while Isipatana have overcome Kingswood (23-3), Wesley (6-3) and Trinity (43-8) and a terrific tussle for supremacy can be expected on Saturday.

The Major Milroy Fernando Trophy was first offered for competition between the two schools by Colonel Dudley Fernando in 1986 in memory of his son Milroy who died in a landmine explosion in Omanthai, Vavuniya in January in the same year.

In the inaugural Milroy Fernando Trophy match played in 1986 at Havelock Park Isipatana scored a thrilling 11-9 win with full back Thushara Bandara firing across the match winning penalty three minutes before the final whistle. In 1987 the trophy was shared between the two schools with the match ending in a 13-all draw at the Sugathadasa stadium.

In 1988 Royal clinched the trophy with a convincing 24-9 win at Pedris Park helped by a hat-trick of tries by burly No. 8 Lasitha Gunaratne. In the following year Royal led by Anura Dhammika retained the trophy with a 9-6 win at Sugathadasa stadium. In 1990 Isipatana under the leadership of Miyuru Yuganthera wrecked back the shield with a 10-3 win at Longdon Place. In the following year the match was not played as Isipatana did not play competitive rugby. In 1992 Isipatana retained the trophy with a 14-3 victory over Royal at Longdon Place and in the following year Isipatana made it three-in-a row with a controversial 12-10 win at the Sugathadasa stadium and a dispute arose between the two schools which resulted in the match not being played in 1004 and 1995.

With saner counsel prevailing in 1996 the match was revived and Isipatana led by Bandula Mallikarachchi emerged victorious by 16-10 at the Sugathadasa Stadium. In the following year Isipatana retained the trophy when Vajira Hewage's team thrashed Royal by 30 points to 6 at the same venue. In 1998 Royal snatched back the trophy with a 14-10 win with winger Viraj de Silva scoring the match winning try in injury time.

In the following year (1999) Isipatana regained the trophy by edging out Royal by 10-5 helped by a last minute try by winger Hamesh Gunaratne. In the year 2000 Suranjan Perera's Royalists snatched back the trophy once again with a hard fought 18-14 win while last year the trophy was shared with the game ending in a Nil-all draw.

The inaugural Royal-Isipatana match was played in 1965 and since then these two schools have met on 30 occasions with Royal winning 13 and Isipatana 12 with five matches ending in draws.

The highest score in the series was registered in 1976 with Royal led by Manik Weerakumar beating Isipatana by 40 points to 3 at Havelock Park while Isipatana's beat performance was in 1997 when under the leadership at Vajira Hewage they won by 30-6 at the Sugathadasa stadium. (R.S.)

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