When teams came from behind to win

Bradby Shield:

Hafiz MARIKAR

There had been many occasions where teams who have lost the first leg of the Bradby Shield coming back to win the second leg by a bigger margin. The first occasion was in 1945, when the shield was presented. In that year, leg Royal under the leadership of C.D.L. Fernando beat Robert Sourjah's Trinity side by 3 points to nil in the first leg. But in the return game played in Kandy, the Trinitians won 6/0 to win the Shield.

The cards are stacked up heavily against the Royalist who have to face the music of the rampaging Royalist at the Bogambara stadium.

Even as the seconds tick for the final count down for the whistle by Referee Dilroy Fernando, it will do no harm for the Trinitains to gather their wits about them at this final hour of their ten day long stay for the second leg of the coveted Bradby Shield encounter scheduled for a grand kick off at 4.30 pm. on Saturday. Trinitians are just one point behind.

Most of the Royalists say that they play well in Kandy than in Colombo and the Kandy school fans say it's the other way round. All in all we will wait till the last whistle to see, who is going to beat whom.

FLASH BACK TO THE 1958 1ST LEG Where Royal won by 6 points

I go back to a game of 1958 - Where Royal scored a great win 6/0 win over Trinity - In this game Royal scored a splendid win over their rivals by 6 points (two tries) to nil, in the match played at Longden Place. It had been a rousing game and one of the best matches of that year, according to some of the rugby lovers, who still talk about that game.

Make no mistake, the score is no indication of the great effort by the Royal College team, who kept play in the Trinity territory for a major part of the game. It was the Royal eight who won, them the game, they were outstanding in the loose play, getting behind the ball fast and tackling well. Their bustling game completely upset the Trinitians, who could not win the ball however hard they tried.

For Trinity there was E.D.K. Roles who jumped well in the lineout's but his efforts were wasted as he received little support from the other forwards. He had he Royal forwards winning the ball from him due to this. In the set pieces, Royal had the edge over Trinity in weight and K. Balendra hooked well to beat his opposite number Mike de Alwis seven times out of ten. All the Royal forwards deserve praise for the spirited game and in H. S. Perera they had a capable kicker, for he found long touch on several occasions.

Royals halves worked well, scrum half Pothuhera slinging out his passes accurately and stand - off M. Anghie opening out the game and also some good touch when on the defensive. The most dangerous player in the game was Royal wing-three-quarter. This speedy right winger backed up a move by the Royal threes by running across to the left wing and scored a brilliant try late in the first half. He also came very near to scoring in the second half, and it was off one of his runs late in the game that Royal was able to score their second try. The Royal centers A. Senaratne and A. Rankine impressed. They made several opening and also tackled well, catching the Trinity threes in possession time and again. Royal left winger. and fullback G. VanGeyzel and A Senaratne also impressed with some good long kicks.

The Trinity forwards could not match the Royal pack and this cost them the game. In the loose they failed to combine and their play was ragged. E.D.K. Roles was outstanding in the lineout's and R. Hermon and Mike de Alwis fought hard in the loose.

Trinitys backs failed in attack but they tackled well stopping the Royal; backs from going through on several occasions. Ken de Joodt's touch kicking was exceptionally good and it helped Trinity out of the woods on several occasions. Nimal Maralande at fly half tried hard but he was worried by the Royal third row and had to rush his passes.

Trinity took play into the Royal 25 with long kicks to touch but resolute tackling stopped any moves from becoming dangerous. Midway in this half Royal swept into the attack and off a threes move Rankine found an opening but was tacked in time by Ken de Joodt. In the 25th minute following a long touch by H.S.Perera in the Trinity "25" the Royal threes got going. The ball went down the line and Lorensz Pereira who raced across the field from his wing was there on the left wing to collect the pass and go over for an unconverted try. At lemons Royal led 3-0.

Royal dominated play in the second half, pinning the Trinitians in their 25. Trinity never looked like scoring. Royal came close to scoring on several occasions and finally succeeded a few minutes before the close when following a good run by Lorensz Pereira, the ball went loose over the Trinity goal and Pothuhera pounced on it to score the second unconverted try. B Wills handled the whistle.

Trinity side was made up of - M.Talwatte, S.B de Silva, P. Bultjens, Ken de Joodt Capt, A.R.M Azain, Nimal Maralande, Denzil Kobbekaduwa, J Dias de Singhe, Mikde de Alwis, Rohan Wijenayake, R.Abeyakoon, E.D.K. Roles, R.Hermon, Ken Murray, D. Janakiram. Royal from - G. Vaneyzel, E.I. Perera, G.G. Samaratunge, A.Rankine, A. Senaratne, M.Anghiee, R. Pothuhera, C.de Soysa, Ken Balendra, L. de Silva, R. Sivaratnam, D.N.Fernando (Capt), R Fernando. In that year second leg played at Nittawella ended in a 3 all draw.