Balasuriya - chief guest for 'Bradby' First Leg
Ravi LADDUWAHETTY
Trinity College Kandy's 1977 rugby football captain, dashing six foot
two No 8 forward and winner of the much coveted rugby Lion Ravindra
Nalin Balasuriya will now be the chief guest at the first leg of Bradby
Shield at Bogambara on May 28 (Saturday).
This follows the unavailability of the four Trinity skippers before
him - No 8 forward Jeffrey Yu (1973 captain and Lion) Chan Ye Ching
(1974 captain and Lion) centre Michael Rohan Sourjah (1974 Lion and 1975
captain) and Sudharman Vijendra Ranasinghe (1976 rugger captain and 1975
basketball captain). Yu, now domiciled in Canada and the other three who
are all in Australia, have announced their inability to be present at
the match.
Rugby connoisseurs historians of yesteryear will reminisce and toast
Balasuriya and his 1977 Trinity team for not only remaining unbeaten and
emerging as schools rugby champions, but having regained the coveted
Bradby Shield after three years from strapper six foot four lock forward
Seyed Hashim's Royalists, having won the Bogambara first leg 12-6, and
the Longden Place second leg 10-4. The last occasion that Trinity won
the Bradby Shield was under centre and Lion Chan Ye Ching's star team
which beat prop forward Brumoon Akbar's Royalists in 1974-18-3 at
Longden Place and 12-9 at Nittawela, a team which had three schools
rugby records, yet unbroken.
The 1977 Trinity Rugby XV also won the Philip Buultjens Trophy for
schools rugby sevens for the third year running which was also the last
occasion that Trinity won the tournament. Trinity beat St Anthony's
College 22-04 in the final, having beaten the Thomians 16-0 in the
semi-final.
Balasuriya will also be savoured as the captain of the first Sri
Lanka schools rugby team to be invited for the Asian Rugby Football
Championships in Bangkok that year. That tournament also saw Trinity
beating St Andrew's College of Singapore, but narrowly lost to
Vajiravudh College of Thailand, but the rider being that Trinity was
under 19 but both foreign teams being under 21.
History repeated itself with grisly accuracy 28 years later in 2005
with Balasuriya taking over the reigns of the Ceylonese Rugby Football
Club as President and headed the very club premises that awarded him the
richest accolade in Sri Lanka schools rugby.
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