When Peterites beat Trinitians

Sharm de Alwis

The Province of Sind was the most difficult that the British had to quell in their quest for dominance of India. Lt. General Napier sent the one word message to London when his forces over-ran the province. TECAVI. Tecavi means 'I have sinned'.

Apart from having Sind in his grasp, he had also gone against strict instructions to leave Sind alone because it was a formidable proposition. With his defiance, he had also sinned. Tecavi in this instance is a double pun.

By tragic irony, Lt. General Napier had been the maternal uncle of Rev. H.P. Napier-Clavering, Principal of Trinity College from 1890 to 1900 who had introduced the system of the Old Boys' Association and by a twist of fate TECAVI was the message that the Peterites sent out from the battle grounds of Pallakelle which by a poetic stretch of imagination is to be termed the province of Sind.

We had gone to Pallakelle on a different route to avoid the road re-construction on Kandy road and had been pleased with the absence of traffic and the smooth surface except for about half a km where some road was patched around holes. We were impressed with the self sufficiency of Mawatagama and the flexing of economic biceps by hoary hamlets of Aladeniya and Nugawela.

The mighty Peterites, on a surge for the third year on the trot, defeated the Trinitians 15-10 in a memorable game of rugger which promised to have the trappings of quintessence but was marred by crucial lapses on both sides.

Trinity, certainly, missed their star number 8, Rasmy Ramzeen and appeared demoralised even though the captain of the invincible '87 team, Tyrrel Rajapakse, did his best to psyche the boys.

The black bands the players wore were a constant reminder of the loss of the playmaker's father who had died on the morning of the match.

In a pre-match chat, Ken de Joodt who needs no introduction to the rugby fraternity, said that SPC with accumulated points homing in on 200 had to be kept in check in the early minutes or that they would run amok but, alas, Trinity allowed them to draw first blood as early as in the fifth minute of play and with the tally augmented with a penalty kick SPC were basking at lemons, 10-5 because hooker Damith Dissanayake sneaked a try in the 25th minute and the conversion from an acute angle was too much for a beginner.

Giving away the advantage has not been in the Trinity rugby culture. They have in the past asserted themselves at the very beginning and have called the shots. Although they kept the penetrative Peterite three at bay and made some sweeping moves on their own they never had the finish and dropped the ball or themselves at crucial stages.

Shannon Armstrong who has been in the thick of things right through the season equalised the score with the finishing touches to a good three-quarter move but the match winning try was by Peterite fly-half, Harsha Weerakkody who mesmerised the opposition to stand and stare as he touched down and with the conversion going astray, referee Dilroy Fernando blew the death knell for Trinity, 10-15.