Sizzling brand of rugby by Lions

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

To merely report that 15 gallant and resurgent Trinitians led by that power house Prop Forward Murad Ramzeen knocked hitherto unconquered No 8 Forward Shehan Pathirana’s Royalists off their feet last Saturday, would tantamount to an epitome of the Latin cliché- Suppresso Veri, the truth but not the whole truth.

In doing so, 15 spirited Trinitians with youthful exuberance, albeit an eight point deficit from a fortnight previously, flamboyantly transformed the Reid Avenue Stadium into a fairyland of rugby, with and some of the fineries of the oval ball game, oft so eloquently spoken of, but seldom seen.

To begin with, Trinity’s score of 40/5 was the highest score against Royal in the series, surpassing the previous best of 36/6 by centre three quarter BNR (Nishantha) Fernando’s Trinitians versus Fly Half Varun Wijewardene’s Royalists at Bogambara, where an avalanche of six tries were scored and three goaled, in the Trinity Rugby centenary year in 2006 and 33/7 at Reid Avenue in the same year. However, Wijewardene was the toast of both Trinity and Royal rugby historians when he emerged as the only player of either school in the history of the 67- year old Bradby Shield series to score two drop goals from the run of play.

For Chief Guest Jagath Fernando, legendary Royal College Double Captain at Rugby ( 1970) and Cricket (1971), would have been bitter gall to swallow. He would have looked forward to seeing Royal not only remaining unbeaten but also to award the coveted Shield to Pathirana, a feat that he might have narrowly missed himself 41 years ago, when Royal, were hot on the heels of an epoch making victory at Nittawela in the second leg.

Royal under his leadership, narrowly missed the Shield after leading 12- 0 with 45 minutes of the game over but lost 12-16 in the last 15 minutes. Some might have thought that he team might have erased the deficit of the first leg of 18-3 victory to the credit of Seevali (SP) Samarasekera’s Trinitians at Longden Place a fortnight previously where the Trinity skipper played dual roles, swapping positions between fly half and centre three quarter in the same match!

The Trinity Lion roared and roar it did, with a vengeance last Saturday, with fifteen players united with both finesse and with such meticulous precision, living up to their school motto- Respice Finem, which means look to the end.

The only change to the original team for the second leg was replacing fullback Sanchana Shiek, with Tarinda Ratwatte.

Sanchana is the son of S.C. Shiek who was not only the Fullback, of Centre and Lion Chan Ye Ching’s unbeaten Trinity XV of 1974 which had five Lions and three series records yet unbroken but was also the fullback of Hooker Manik Weerakumar’s all conquering Royal team of 1976 which not only had the then series record versus Trinity of 61/6 but also the yet unbroken series record versus Isipathana of 40-3.

Tarinda is the son of legendary Trinity scrum half, skipper and Lion of 1983 Ashan Ratwatte, who had the rare distinction of being awarded Bradby Shield by no less than the donor of the Shield- Edward Lawrence Bradby himself after the 100th match at Longden Place that year against Srian Cooray’s Royalists.

For the Trinitians, it was sizzling fast open rugby where they outplayed the Royalists, with the forwards being outstanding in the loose play and more mobile than the Royalists and with the Trinity threes, yards faster than their Royal counterparts,

both in speed and in art. The offloaded passes at the right times. Each time, they had possession of the ball, they looked dangerous. Fly Half and play maker Rehan Weerakoon got his kicks spot on, making the confidence and stature of the entire team grow.

They played true to a game plan and attacked from the word go and looked together a champion outfit. They played to their true potential and in the traditional run and pass game and applied the pressure on the Royal forwards at every given opportunity.

It was a totally resurgent Trinity, in sharp contrast to the first leg where they panicked and played dismally, playing into the hands of Royal by not collecting the up- and under balls and making mistakes in the cross kicks. They were looking at the opponents and not at the ball, which gave Royal the vital breaks through.

DISCE AUT DISCEDE RESPICE FINEM