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| Tuesday, 10 August 2004 |
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Royal in resounding 41-6 win over Trinity by Chris Dhambarage Royal College have overcome their first challenge in their attempt to retain the Bradby Shield for a record fourth successive year. Last week at their Sports Complex grounds Reid Avenue they routed their traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy with a superlative performance winning the first leg by a convincing margin of 41 points to six in their 60th annual encounter. Royal collected their points from four goals, two tries and one penalty while Trinity College managed to put over only two penalties. In fact Royal took a matchwinning 29-3 lead at the half way mark of the game and made certain that there would be no contest at the end. This was also their second biggest victory in the series and will go into the second leg in Kandy with a great amount of confidence. In less than 15 minutes of time Royal shattered the Trinity defence with a dazzling performance where they ran down three beautiful tries to seal the game in their favour. With three national players in their ranks Royal the current 'A' division league runners up had their own way piling up the points quite easily. Royal of course opened scoring few minutes after the kick off with full back Shehab Bahudeen firing across an easy penalty. The Trinitians hit back almost immediately with Isuru Jayasena putting over a 25 metre penalty in the ninth minute of play. But from there onwards it was all Royal as they penetrated the Trinity goal line at regular intervals with a combination of power and science. They simply outplayed the opposition in all departments of the game while enjoying a great amount of possession in the scrums and line outs. Flanker Prabath Udugampola drew first blood when he charged in, to score near the corner flag after Royal had won a five metre scrum. Bahudeen made no mistake with the conversion and Royal were on their way to a rousing win leading 10-3. The Royal forwards again invaded the Trinity goal line and succeeded in scoring their second try mid way in the first half to further increase their lead. This was followed by a smart piece of work from Varun Wijewardena and Rajith Jayasundera which resulted in Royal scoring their third try in the most spectacular manner. Jayasundera initiated the move from mid field and powered his way nearly 30 metres before giving over a pass to Wijewardena who added the finishing touches completely unchallenged. The Royal three quarters were now playing at their best with dynamic full back Bahudeen forming the overlap quite regularly. In fact Bahudeen planted Royal's fourth try while adding the finishing touches to a superb three quarter move and also added the extra points to give his side a 29-3 lead at half time. Having virtually sealed the game in their favour Royal played a more relaxed game in the second half but not before Awais Rasheed scored another brilliant try to complete a fantastic win. And quite fittingly skipper Lakshman Dissanayake powered his way to score Royal's sixth and final try to give them a 41 points to 6 victory at the end. Before that Isuru Jayasena put over Trinity's second penalty to reduce the margin to 6-29 shortly after half time. Thomians retain Lady Jayatilleke Shield S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia produced a magnificent second half rally to beat St. Joseph's College by 27 points to 25 points in their annual inter school rugby encounter played at the CR and FC grounds, Longden Place. The Thomians also retained the Lady Jayatilleke Shield for the fifth successive year. Not only that the Thomians also warmed up for the knock out tournament and certainly won a psychological battle against their rivals. The Thomians were almost down and out trailing 7-18 at half time. But they staged a remarkable comeback to score a last minute try and snatch a thrilling win from the jaws of defeat. This was in fact the second time the Thomians had performed a similar role following their stunning win over St. Anthony's College Kandy the previous week. This was a good morale boosting win for the Thomians who are certain to make an impact when the knock out tournament gets underway this week. Ananda win Gopallawa Shield Ananda College too warmed for the important knock out tournament with a smashing 27 points to 7 points win over their traditional rivals Vidyartha College Kandy at the CR and FC grounds, Longden Place. The Anandians who have made a big impact this year proved their talent and potential by running down as many as five tries and conceding only one to their opponents. Their success also had great significance because they retained the William Gopallawa Shield for another year. This was incidentally the first time in 16 years that the two schools decided to play the second leg with Ananda winning the first leg 13 nil in Kandy. Isipatana retain Abdul Jabbar Shield Isipatana College scored a consolation eight points to five win over their traditional rivals Thurstan College in their annual inter school fixture played at the CR and FC grounds, Longden Place last week. Isipatana also retained the Abdul Jabbar Shield for another year. This was no doubt a consolation win for Isipatana who failed to win a single match in the Singer 'A' division league rugby tournament. They will also be demoted into the 'B' division league from next year having finished in the bottom of the points table. |
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