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| Saturday, 21 August 2004 |
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Royal out to make history by Dinesh Weerawansa Royal College will be out for a historic fourth successive triumph in the series when they take on their traditional rivals Trinity College in the second leg of their 60th annual Bradby Shield rugby encounter to be played at Bogambara Stadium, Kandy today (21). Having won the first leg encounter in Colombo by a handsome margin of 41 points (4 goals, 2 tries, 1 penalty) to 6 (2 penalties) a fortnight ago, the Reid Avenue boys will travel to the hill capital brimming with confidence of creating history in the proud 'Bradby' history which began in 1945. Never in the history, has a team emerged outright winners for four years in-a-row and Royal are well set for that memorable feat. But one cannot underestimate Trinity and expect the same pathetic display they gave in Colombo. Certainly, the lions are not going to be the same in their own den. The hosts would make every effort to give Royal a keen contest. Then again, the asking is far too much for Trinity as they have to win today's game with a victory margin of 36 points or more, if they are to regain the coveted Bradby Shield, awarded in honour of the late Royal Principal, E.L. Bradby. The Royal-Trinity inter-school rugby series began way back in 1920, the Bradby Shield was introduced 25 years later in 1945. Since then, there have been two legs with the overall winner being decided on the aggregate of points of both the matches. The lions made too many mistakes in the first leg and had to pay heavily as Royal ran down as many as six tries of which four were converted. That has put a heavy pressure on Trinity with a gigantic task of erasing a deficit of 35 points in the 'return' leg. Even of the lions come good and pull off a surprise win today, it will be a gigantic task for them to bridge that deficit to emerge overall winners. Royal coach, C. P. Abeygoonawardena will be a relaxed man after his boys did that early hard work in the first leg. Nevertheless, the former Sri Lanka national coach has warned his team not to take things for granted. He has stressed on the Royal side not to underestimate their opponents at any stage and to put maximum effort to capitalize on the sound base they have now. Royal's 41-6 crushing of lions is their highest scoring in a first leg match after that 39-0 in 2002. Royal have won the 'Bradby', the blue ribond of Sri Lanka's rugby, in the last three successive years. They regained the shield in 2001 under Harin Kaluarachchi winning both legs 12-6 and 16-0. In the following year of 2002, they retained the 'Bradby' with most wins of 13-11 and 13-8 under Sri Lanka three quarter Rajitha Jayasundara. Last year saw Royal pulling Trinity's rugby to the lowest ebb inflecting humiliating defeats of 39-0 and 44-0. Trinity will have to come out with a fresh game plan and strategy altogether. They must come out with the losing mentality, forget what happened in the first leg and believe in them selves. Motivation should be the name of their game. They must first target a consolation win today. If the things are going right for them with an early advantageous position, they could think of regaining the shield. True that Trinity is facing an uphill task but they must make best use of the favorable home conditions and inspiration of their supporters to regain their morale. If they can cross the Royal line early on a couple of occasions, then they may be able to find the rhythm of the game. In the junior games played in the first leg, Trinity won the under-11 (14-7) and under-17 (23-0) encounters, while Royal emerged victorious in the under-13 (19-0) and under-15 (15-5) matches. Whatever the outcome one thing is assured and that is that those pack the stadium will enjoy a grand treat of fast and open rugby, in true spirit of the game! |
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