A quick look at the TCK/SACK rugby series

Sharm de Alwis

Akila Dissanayake, making his dream debut and playing on the wing for Trinity, scored five grand tries which is a record in inter-school rugby encounters. Even Prasanna Jayawardena of whom Quentin Israel said was the finest winger he had ever coached, scored four tries against Royal and four against S. Thomas’ the fourth which, having crossed the line, he handed over to Meegahakumbura to touch down.

Fortunate

Akila is fortunate to have had two inner-threes in Vishvanath Wijesinghe and L.U.P. Samarasekera who drew the opposite numbers and created an open field for him to burst through but there was an occasion when he sliced through three defenders and another when he intercepted a pass at full throttle. That he runs with guts and purpose has been commented upon by several who watched the spectacle.

In the absence of bees that swarmed the grounds when Trinity took on the Josephians, Idris Omar was the busy bee/play maker number 8 who made the openings for the Trinity threes to go on a rampage of 49 [3 goals, 5 tries, 1 drop goal] to 10 [2 tries].

Formidable team

The series which commenced in 1962 was heavily tilted towards Trinity in the early stages with only the 1968 SACK side led by Kuthdos holding to a 3 - 3 draw the formidable team led by Ajith Abeyaratne, which won handsomely five of their matches other than the two Bradby Legs. Trinity was beaten for the first time in the series in their Centenary Year of 1972 led by Athula Unantenna 7 - 13 by Tuan Dole’s XV. The new Millenium favours St Anthony’s who have won every year other than in 2006 and ‘08.

The rot had commenced for Trinity in 1988 and was repeated in 1995 to continue in 1998 and ‘99.

Purple patch

1974 was, of course, yet another purple patch for Trinity rugger when they took with them the Asgiriya scoreboard where ever they went to play.

Except the two Bradby games in which they had relatively less inspiring wins of 18 - 3 and 12 - 9, under the captaincy of C.Y. Ching [Snr] Trinity beat SACK 64 - 3; STC 70 - 8, SJC 53 - 3, Wesley 54 - 3, Dharmarajah 46 - 0.

The team which played against St Anthony’s comprised: S.U. Suan [Lion], K. Maheswaram, Gamini Balasuriya [Lion], Rohan Perera [Lion], A.R. Abeygunawardena, M.I. Rahiman, Niranjan Ranasinghe [Lion in ‘75], C.Y. Ching [Lion in ‘75], S.V. Ranasinghe, C.Y. Ching [Snr - Lion], Rohan Sourjah [Lion], G.T.A. Samaranayake, A.R. Dissanayake and S.C. Shiek.