Royal out to retain Bradby Shield

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Royal College with eight senior coloursmen in their ranks will be hoping to target the vital Bradby Shield as they look to make another fine impact in the current Inter-school rugby season.

Last year they finished third in the Singer Under 19 'A' division league tournament following another tremendous performance where they had the satisfaction of winning both legs of the Bradby Shield encounter.

Royal defeated their traditional rivals Trinity College by a narrow margin of 38-37 in Colombo and followed up with a more convincing 34-17 triumph in Kandy.

But yet they had a couple of disappointments last season where they lost to St. Peter's (20-22), Isipatana (5-27) and Kingswood (10-15) respectively.

Apart from these key matches Royal also had the credit of overcoming Wesley College (12-0), Prince of Wales (35-6), Dharmaraja (27-5), St. Anthony's (35-18) and S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia (38-12).

This time their main goal is to remain unbeaten and also to make amends for last year's three defeats which certainly prevented them from winning the Singer 'A' division league championship.

They have already notched up back to back victories against St. Joseph's College and Wesley College following a warm up friendly fixture against Mahanama in which they planted a total of 17 tries on their home grounds. Even then Royal will not be fully satisfied with the kind of performance they have shown in the two tournament matches where they managed to scrape through by a close margin on both occasions. They overcame St. Joseph's College 38-31 and followed up with a thrilling 33-32 win against Wesley College while conceding more tries to their opponents on both instances.

Royal's match winner in both outings turned out to be their reliable place kicker and dynamic fly half Arshad Jamaldeen who contributed 18 points each to turn the game in their favour.

The second year coloursman fired across four splendid penalties and converted three tries against St. Joseph's College and then followed up with three crucial penalties, one drop goal and three conversions against Wesley College. This year Royal College will be captained by fourth year coloursman and dynamic Number Eight Shehan Pathirana with prop forward and second year coloursman Aadil Jabbar as the vice captain.

The rest of the coloursmen in the squad are fly half Arshad Jamaldeen, prop forward Iroshan de Alwis, centre Tharaka Wijesuriya, flanker Madusha Kularatne, second row forward Lahiru Pavithra and hooker Yasim Yousuf. Royal will face two of their tough opponents during the upcoming weeks where they will take on arch rivals Isipatana College on April 30 and Kingswood College Kandy on May 7.

The Royal College First XV Rugby Squad for 2011 season:

Prop forwards: Iroshan de Alwis, Aadil Jabbar (vice captain), Mahesh Udugampola, Achala Jayashanka

Hooker: Yasim Yousuf, Shavinda Dharmadasa

Second row forwards: Lahiru Pavithra, Wasim Bawa, Ashan Bandara, Kavisha Hettiarachchi, Malaka Ihalagedera, Shohayb Muthalip, Raffin Jiffrey, Sachin Vihanga

Flankers: Madusha Kularatne, Andrew Siriwardena, Sachitha Wijeratne, Arshad Zavahir

Number 8: Shehan Pathirana (captain)

Scrum half: Ravishan Dassanayake, Dileepa Jayatilleke, Praveen Dambavinne

Fly half: Arshad Jamaldeen

Centres: Damien Ratwatte, Tharaka Wijesuriya, Devin de Silva, Manoda de Silva

Wingers: Ijaz Bohoran, Azman Khan, Tharindu Abeysekera, Anjana Kudahetty, Nivaan Perera, Nipun Weerasinghe

Full back: Rimzi Jamaldeen

Coach: Theo Serasiam

Assistant coach: Asanga Rodrigo

Trainer: Senaka Sylvester