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by Chris Dhambarage

Royal College completed a highly successful inter school rugby season as they annexed the Bradby Shield for the third successive year. Last week they defeated their traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy by 13 points to 8 in the second leg of their 59th annual encounter played at the Royal Sports Complex grounds, Reid Avenue.

Royal had an overall aggregate of 26 points to 19 after having won the first leg by 13 points to 11 at the Bogambara Stadium. This was another splendid performance by the newly crowned Milo Schools 'A' division league champions who played to their potential to register an impressive victory at the end.

They may have scored just a solitary try in the match but their dominance was more than that and enjoyed a large amount of possession throughout the game. However it was their defence that really won the game because they never let the Trinitians take control even while performing under pressure. Royal did well to spoil a number of threatening moves and came out with some superb interceptions which certainly surprised their opponents.

In contrast the Trinitians did not have a real game plan and they were running out of ideas during the latter stages of the game. They kept on driving through their hard working forwards but paid the penalty for over doing it and also for depending more on skipper Migara Maddumapatabendi. The crack number eight was heavily marked and the Trinitians failed to make any headway despite winning a couple of crucial line outs.

In addition Trinity always decided to run the ball when they were awarded with a penalty and as a result they failed to put some points on the board early in the game which would have given them a psychological advantage. In contrast Royal full back Shahab Bahudeen was on target with two early penalties as the home side took a six nil lead mid way in the game.

But it was scrum half Nirmal Siriwardena who gave Royal a decisive lead with a magnificent try where he ran through almost the entire Trinity defence to score mid right. Trinity reduced the margin with a consolation try from winger Isuru Jayasena after Saliya Kumara had earlier fired across a 30 metre penalty.

Kingswood win on a toss of a coin

Meanwhile the quarterfinal line up in the President's trophy knock out tournament was completed with Kingswood College Kandy overcoming Isipatana on a toss of a coin in a crucial encounter. The Kingswoodians had earlier completed a successful league tournament where they emerged champions in the Milo Schools 'B' division tournament.

But their triumph over the more fancied Isipatana outfit could be even more memorable as they are now just two steps away from winning the President's Trophy. Their success of course came in the most extra ordinary manner after the game ended in a thrilling ten all draw even after the extra time. The teams could not be separated even after the free kicks as Kingswood and Isipatana converted one penalty each.

Kingswood have certainly worked hard in the past and their entry into the semifinals could not be a surprise because they have proved themselves on more than a couple of occasions in the current inter school rugby season. Isipatana could consider themselves unfortunate but they missed several scoring opportunities which eventually made the difference at the end.

Wesley beat Ananda

S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia and Wesley College have setup a semifinal showdown by winning their respective quarterfinal matches quite convincingly. The Wesleyites recovered from a poor start to beat Ananda College with a superb second half rally after the scores had been level three all at half time. The Wesleyites got their act together well in the second half and went on the rampage with winger Zackay Badurdeen going over for two superb tries.

S. Thomas' beat St. Peter's

The Thomians had the satisfaction of beating the Peterites for the second time in the current season with another powerful performance that could put them as one of the favourites to reach the final. This time the margin was 27-10 with S. Thomas' Collecting their points from one goal and four tries. They could have pulled off the game even by a bigger margin had they converted all five tries.

Nevertheless this was a pleasing performance by the Thomians who seem to be improving after every outing which may not be a good sign to the opposition. They made an awful start to the season going down to Ananda College in the very first game. But now they are playing with a real purpose and they have proved this to a maximum in their last two outings.

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