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by Chris Dhambarage

Royal College have cleared their first hurdle in their attempt to retain the Bradby Shield for the third successive year. Last week they came out with a magnificent performance to beat their traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy by 13 points to 11 in the first-leg of their 59th annual encounter at the Bogambara Stadium.

Royal played like a true champion side and collected their points from a goal and two penalties while the Trinitians responded with a try, one penalty and a drop goal. This may not be the best effort by the Royal outfit in the current season but they certainly got their act together well and dominated the second-half. They were up against it from the kick off and were trailing 0-3 at one stage and again 0-11 mid way in the first-half.

However just in the manner they have performed in the past Royal played the best part of rugby during the latter stages to mesmerise the opposition and pull off an exciting game. The Royal forwards played with a great amount of determination and courage while setting up a number of scoring opportunities. The three quarters were equal to the task and made amends with some beautiful passes which put the Trinitians under tremendous pressure.

Royal could have scored a couple of more tries considering their dominance in the last few minutes of play but in a desperate attempt they failed to add the finishing touches. Even then Skipper Rajith Jayasundera's solitary try turned out to be crucial with Shahab Bahudeen adding the extra points and also putting over an important penalty.

Trinity College went ahead with an opportunistic try from Isuru Jayasena with Saliya Kumara adding the extra points and also firing across a superb penalty to give them an early lead. Full back Saliya in fact was really outstanding while relieving pressure with his booming kicks and even did not mind joining the three quarters.

Kingswood 'B' division champs

Meanwhile Kingswood College emerged Milo Schools 'B' division league champions when they beat Ananda by 32 points to 8 in the deciding match played at Randles Hill Grounds in Kandy.

The Kingswoodians collected their points from three goals, one try and two penalties while the Anandians managed to score only a try and a penalty. However at half-time Kingswood enjoyed a close 10-3 lead. This was also Kingswood's seventh successive victory and they completed the tournament with an unbeaten record.

The home conditions certainly was an added advantage for the Kingswoodians who really gave the Anandians a torrid time with their excellent rucking and mauling. They fully exploited the visitors during the latter stages of the game with three of their four tries scored in the second-half. The Anandians who started the season on a promising note failed to maintain their consistency and had to be satisfied with runners up position in group 'B'.

Pow 'C' division champs

Prince of Wales College won the Milo Schools 'C' division league title as they beat D.S. Senanayake College by 19 points to 16 in a crucial match played at Havelock Park. The Cambrians collected their points from two goals and one try while D.S. Senanayake responded with a goal and three penalties.

However at half-time D.S. Senanayake were leading 13-7 after they had dominated the first 30 minutes of play. The Cambrians came back strongly and turned the game in their favour while scoring twice in the last few minutes of the game.

They finished with a total of five victories from six outings and collected a total of 21.00 points which put them on top of group 'C'. This has been a tremendous season for Prince of Wales who were promoted into the Milo Division one league tournament recently. But they seem to have made vast strides in a short period and have surprised some of the better teams in the current season.

Science clinch 'D' division title

Science College, Mount Lavinia had the satisfaction of winning the Milo Schools 'D' division league title with a convincing 48 points to 7 win over St. Aloysius College, Galle in their deciding game played at Longden Place yesterday. The winners completely dominated the game and collected their points from four goals and four tries having led 29-7 at half-time.

Easy for Isipatana

Isipatana scored a consolation 47 points to 3 win over Dharmaraja College in their Milo 'A' division league tournament match played at Nittawela. Isipatana ran circles around the Dharmaraja defence while running down as many as seven tries in addition to three penalties having led 16 nil at half-time.

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