How unbeaten Trinity regained the Bradby Shield in 1977

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

Trinity, led by burly No 8 forward and Rugby Lion Ravi Balasuriya, took on Lock Forward Seyed Hashim's Royalists in 1977, acutely conscious of its loss of the Bradby Shield in the two previous years, and more so, by the then series record in the previous year 1976 - /0-36 at Longden Place and 6-25.

The only scoring that Trinity did which was in the second leg at Bogambara was, when Centre Kemal Deen passed the ball inside the Trinity 25 yard line to winger Janaka Weerasinghe who wind sprinted over 70 metres taking the Royal defence by storm to dive over the left corner flag for No. 8 Ravi Balasuriya to convert.

So, with that in mind, Trinitians under Balasuriya took on Seyyed Hashim's Royalists at Bogambara on July 2, 1977. Trinity to that day, was unbeaten giving won all five matches. The scorecard of Balasuriya's team till that game, thus read: Beat Thurstan 28-3; Wesley 35-3; beat Ananda -58-0; and beat Dharmarajah- 12-0. Royal had won four games till then, tied one and lost one. However, Royal, were firm favourites to win the game, with the Bradby in their bag and with the series record win, only the previous year under Hooker Manik Weerakumar's all conquering XV which not only beat Trinity by the then series record, with a try at four points then. Trinity, though having performed well, were clearly the underdogs.

Trinity having won the toss, took the market end entrance of the Bogambara Stadium in the first half. Trinity dominated play in the first twenty minutes with fast open rugby and all play was within the Royal 25. Royal won a line out and the Trinity threes who exploited weak Royal Fullback Wimal Epararachchi tackled him under full pressure, who just managed to clear the ball with a very feeble kick.

Trinity, Centre Kemal Ismail Deen (1977 Rugby Lionsman, Athletics Coloursman) collected the ball knocking down his Royal counterpart Rohantha Peiris and also his former under 17 co-Trinity winger Susantha Ratnayake playing that year in the Royal wing and was rewarded when he touched down yards left of the right corner flag near the Hospital end. Skipper Balasuriya made no mistake with the conversion. Trinity 6. Royal 0.

The Trinitians were over confident and they tended to relax with a clear six point lead which enabled Royal to bring play into the Trinity half.

Then, off a maul ten yards away from the Trinity goal line, Fullback Adumai Shahedeen cleared the ball with his booming kicks to touch and the ball was collected by Royal Fullback Epararachchi who passed onto Flanker and Vice Captain Ajit Gunawardene who in the meantime slipped out of the boundary line.

Right at that time, there was the shrill of a whistle which later transpired had come from a spectator. All thirty players stopped play and watched for the reaction of the referee - Colonel C.S. Fernando. Gunewardene, then passed the ball on to (the late) scrum half Rabindranath (Raba) Gunasekera (1979 captain) who collected the ball to score under the post. That was in the 28th minute of play. Susantha Ratnayake converted. Trinity 6. Royal 6.

With this, half time was whistled which helped Trinity to reorganise. Trinity, jolted and confused by this snap try, which was also the first occasion that season that the Trinity goal line was crossed.

In the second half, both sides were even with the possession with Trinity having 60% of the possession of the set scrums but only 30% in the lines out. The battle in the lines-out being a battle of wits between the Royal skipper Seyed Hashim and Trinity's Ravi Ratnayeke.

But it was a game with the forwards with that being the ploy adopted by both sides. Sensing this, Trinity switched to play to its back division, adhering to its famous run and pass game.

Then, off a short tap, scrum half Jan Tissera skipper passed the ball to elder brother Andre who passed to Kemal Deen and who in turn, passed to Centre Lalin Sourjah, who handed the ball over the Vice Captain Janaka Kiridena who bulldozed his way through with the Royal defenders on his back to score by the corner flag. Balasuriya converted. Trinity 12. Royal 6. The Royalists attacked then onwards but the Trinity defence held tight.

The only change in the Trinity team for the second leg was the replacement of the regular Hooker Kenneth Congreve with Kinsley Alagaratnam.

The Royalists started attacking from the start itself and the game was at a ferocious pace. The Trinitians slowed the pace hoping that Royal will crack under pressure. Royal played with their forwards but the Trinitians never panicked. Royal fluffed many penalties, Royal dominated play in the entire first half. In the 11th minute of play, Hooker Kingsley Alagaratnam hooked the ball so fast out hooking his counterpart S.D. Peiris in a scrum ten yards out of the Trinity goal for scrum half Jan Tissera but Royal scrum half Raba Gunasekera was out on him in a flash to touch down. Hassan failed with the conversion from mid right.

Trinity, through rattled by this kept on putting pressure. Half time, Trinity 0 Royal 4.

The second half saw Trinity increasing the speed sensing that the Royalists were tired after the first half. Alagaratnam the replacement Trinity hooker was out hooking Royal's S.D. Peiris. Trinity forwards were feeding their threes with good ball in most of the second half.

In the 47th minute of play, off a second phase move midway in the Royal 25, the ball moved from Trinity Centre Lalin Sourjah to skipper Balasuriya who drew away Royal Winger Susantha Ratnayake and gave Trinity flanker Y.C. Wong, a free passage over the line far right. The kick at goal went stray. Trinity 4. Royal 4.

From then onwards, Trinitians were on that loose ball rucking and mauling with finesse and feeding their backs on almost every occasion. Then in the 58th minute, off a move in the Royal 25, the Trinity forwards sent the ball to scrum half Jan Tissera who moved the ball down the line from brother and fly half Andre Tissera to Centre Kemal Deen who passed to Centre Lalin Sourjah who sprinted across drawing his Royal centre and winger as well and passed on to winger Mohan Bibile to score by the corner flag.

Vice Captain Janaka Kiridena wound up with a superb conversion to beat Seyed Hashim's Royalists -10-4 at Longden Place to give Trinity the 33rd Bradby Shield, which was after a lapse of three years.