When Trinity won Rugby Sevens Title in the inaugural year

Sharm de ALWIS

I was gratified that Major General Niranjan Ranasinghe spent the evening of his 33rd year in the Army with me in my humble home.

Niranjan first played Trinity rugger in 1973 under Jeffrey Yu's captaincy, then in '74 in C.Y. Ching's team and, finally, in '75 in the team captained by Rohan Sourjah, the year in which he was awarded the coveted rugger Lion along with C.Y. Ching [Jnr]. Rohan Sourjah and C.Y. Ching [Snr] had won their Lion in the previous year.

He is a product of Ryde House, the best all-round champion House in studies and sports at Trinity from 1970 to '75 - six years on the trot. Other Rydites of the period were Professor Malik Ranasinghe, Dr Sumith Pilapitiya, Muttiah Chandrasekeran, Gotabaya Dasanayake, S.B. Dasanayake, L.T. Perera, S.V. Ranasinghe, Arjuna Ranawana, Kaushal Seneviratne, Michael Schoorman and Hiran Herat. 1975 was the year in which the Rugby Sevens was first played for the Philip Buultens Trophy, initiated by Dr Mackie Ratwatte, brother of the then P.M. Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

A report on the tournaments states that a total of fifteen schools participated in the inaugural tournament at the CR and FC grounds at Longden Place on 9th August 1975. The teams were: Group A - Isipatana, Lumbini, Thurstan, Carey, Royal, Ananda, Vidyartha and Kingswood Group B - St Anthony's, Dehiwela MMV, Sri Rahula, Trinity, St Thomas', Dharmarajah and St Benedict's.

The preliminary round results indicated Isipatana receiving a walk-over from Lumbini while Carey received a walk-over from Thurstan. Royal beat Ananda 18-0 while Kingswood received a walk-over from Vidyartha. In Group B, Dehiwela MMV beat St Anthony's 10-0 and Trinity beat Sri Rahula 28-0. St Thomas' beat St Benedict's 6-4 and Dharmarajah drew a bye.

In the Group A quarter-finals Isipatana beat Carey 44-0 and Royal beat Kingswood 34-0.

In the Group B quarter finals Trinity beat Dehiwela MMV 26-4 and Dharmarajah beat St Thomas' 4-0.

Royal beat Isipatana 16-0 in the first semi-final and Trinity beat Dharmarajah 24-6.

The fitting climax was Trinity Vs Royal.

Trinity forwards were S.Y. Suan, Niranjan Ranasinghe and J.A.Victor as scrum-half; C.Y. Ching [Jnr], Rohan Sourjah, C.L. Ching, R.P. Ismail

Royal forwards were Ifthikar Hassen, Manik Weerakumar and Saman Jayasinghe as scrum-half; Threes - C.C. Ching, Skanda Fernando, S. Sukumar and Royce Koelmeyer.

Despite Trinity having to play Royal in the finals after a short break following their game against Dharmarajah, they set a terrific pace to score the first try through C.L. Ching. Alexander Victor converted for Trinity to lead 6-0. Skipper Rohan Sourjah scored next through a scintillating 45 meter run but with the conversion being missed Trinity led 10-0.

A move initiated by C.L. Ching resulted in Niranjan Ranasinghe scoring mid left for the score to read, Trinity 14-0. Royal came back with a flush for Skanda Fernando to score a try and convert it himself to reduce the lead for Trinity 14-6.

After lemons, Royal pressed hard and Manik Weerakumar scored for Skanda Fernando to add the bonus points for Trinity to lead 14-12. Scrum-half C.L. Ching who had a grand game scored the final try for Trinity and Victor's conversion made it Trinity 18, Royal 12. Royal countered with a snap try by S. Sukumar but Skanda Fernando fluffed the conversion and the final score was Trinity 18, Royal 16.

The most enthralling moment of the game was when Royal won possession and worked the ball right down the line for Royce Koelmeyer to assert why he was the Public scholls 100 meter champion but Niranjan Ranasinghe's corner flagged with a spectacular flying tackle seconds before Percy Perera's death whistle sounded end of play.