Royalists do it in style

Chris DHAMBARAGE

It was at the backdrop of some uncertainty that they launched their campaign for the new inter school rugby season more than three months ago.

The sudden withdrawal of their regular coach after just four matches of the league tournament added more pressure on the Reid Avenue team.

But Royal College have eventually turned this season into a memorable one having emerged unbeaten champions in the Singer inter school under 20 division one tournament for 2011.

Their success has been mainly due to some real hard work and total commitment where every member of the team has focused and concentrated on the game throughout the season.

They of course had a very poor start to the season and never looked like a team that would last the full distance with so much of competition from the rest of the schools. In fact Royal's opening three matches were all very close encounters where they struggled to beat Wesley 33-32, St. Joseph's 38-31 and Isipatana 11-10. These were the early days of the season for the former champions who had clinched the title in 2009 as well.

The arrival of Asanga Rodrigo as the Head Coach of the Royal team mid way in the season certainly brought a new dimension into the entire team with different tactics and techniques used to counter attack the opposition.

Until then they were purely depending on the forwards to deliver the goods with more emphasis on winning possession in the line outs and set pieces. No doubt this has been their forte during the past few years where they have won many games in similar tactics.

But in a bold and challenging move Royal went beyond the traditions and decided to change their game plan by using their back division more regularly than they did at the beginning of the season.

As a result they opened out the game creating more scoring opportunities and the positional changes also helped them to come out with different ideas that turned out to be more than fruitful.

Royal looked a completely different side thereafter as they had plenty of attacking options under their belt which gave skipper Shehan Pathirana that extra amount of confidence going into some of the key matches.

Even then it was after that fantastic win in the Bradby Shield 1st leg against their traditional rivals Trinity College that Royal started to believe in themselves that they have the potential to go all the way and clinch the league championship.

They never looked back from there onwards as they maintained the same momentum during the latter stages of the season before adding the finishing touches in a spectacular manner. No doubt the boys were feeling the pressure at the end of the season but they were able to keep their heads down and preserve their best for the last two matches of the season. It was a well earned rest for the players as the tournament was interrupted for two weeks to make way for the Junior Rugby Asiad which was held in Hong Kong.

But yet Royal were stretched to the maximum in their key match against the reigning champions St. Peter's College which was also their penultimate game of the tournament played at Bambalapitya.

The deciding match against Science College Mount Lavinia on their home ground was even more demanding as Royal snatched a thriller 18-15 much to the delight of the entire team.

The final whistle was more than a relief for the Royal team because they had toiled for more than three months under different circumstances to achieve their ultimate goal of winning the league title.

This clash was also a fitting farewell to some of their stalwarts who had played out their heart and soul to maintain some high standards in the game for the past two years.

The only concern for Royal was their weak defence which allowed the opposition to score more tries than they anticipated. But they made amends for that setback by counter attacking the opposition which helped them always to stay ahead in the game.

The clash against St. Peter's College was a classic example of this where Royal won a high scoring contest 50-41 while scoring eight tries against their opponents seven tries.

The match winner no doubt was their dynamic number eight and skipper Shehan Pathirana who came out with his best performance in the current season to touch down on four occasions.

Pathirana rose to the big occasion when his team needed him most and led from the front to register a memorable victory in one of the most fascinating contests in the tournament where a total of 91 points were scored by both teams. The Royal captain completed a highly successful inter school career with 14 tries in the tournament having represented the school first XV team since the year 2009.

The other significant performance came from their full back Damien Ratwatte who contributed nine tries in the tournament after having started the season as their regular centre three quarter.

In addition prop forward Iroshan de Alwis, second row forward Lahiru Pavithara and Rimzi Jamaldeen also excelled with five tries each. However the biggest contribution came from Arshad Jamaldeen who emerged as one of the top place kickers in this year's tournament. The dynamic fly half was able to make his presence felt in almost every outing as he scored a record 148 points.

Royal would have not been able to achieve their success if not for the backing and support from their Rugby Committee headed by Chairman and former coach Dr. Fred Perera and Principal Upali Gunasekera.