Royal-Thomian clash for Guneratne Trophy for 50th time

One of the most looked forward to rugby confrontations in the schools rugby calendar is the clash between traditional rivals Royal College Colombo and S. Thomas College Mount Lavinia for the Michael Guneratne Trophy. It was offered for the first time in 1962 to create more interest after the Royal-Thomian became a regular fixture in 1955.

Of the 49 matches played so far in the Guneratne Trophy series Royal have won 27 while the Thomians have emerged victorious on 17 occasions with five matches ending in draws – 1962, 1967, 1976, 1978 and 1997. The encounter was not played in 1979 due to a dispute between the two schools regarding the dates of the match. A close tussle for supremacy can be expected when these two teams clash for the 50th time on July 14 at the Royal Sports Complex.

In recent years there have been many memorable moments. In 1997 the match turned out to be a kicking duel between the two place kickers Rananja Gonaduwa (Royal) and Ahamed Rahaman (S.Thomas’) who fired across three penalties each with the match ending in a 9-all draw at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

In the following year another thriller was witnessed with the scores reading 16-all in injury time when a move begun by Royal's flanker Pavithra Fernando in mid field culminated in centre Kishan Samarasinghe scoring under the posts to give Rananja Gonaduwa an easy kick at goal to give Royal a 23-16 win.

In 1999 Royal coming into the game as underdogs gave a stupendous performance to score four tries through their wingers Viraj de Silva and Samith Pilapitiya which saw them lead 26-0 at lemons but the Thomians fought back gallantly to cross the Royal goal line twice in the second half before losing 12-26.

In the year 2000 the Thomians propelled by their power-packed forwards wrested back the trophy with a close 14-11 win at the Sugathadasa stadium. In the following year the lads from Reid Avenue turned in a dazzling display of open rugby to score a runaway 30-nil win at Longden Place to grab the trophy.

In 2002 Zulki Hamid's invincible Royal team gave a majestic display to score a smashing 39-3 win at the Royal Sports Complex to register the highest score in the series surpassing the previous highest of 34-nil recorded by Michael Muller's Royalists in 1973.

The 2003 encounter played at Havelock Park was a personal triumph for Royals’ full back Shehab Bahudeen who fired across four penalties to give Royal a 17-6 win and also played a major role in his team's success in 2004 when he scored a try, put over two penalties and added the extra points to the try scored by Lakshman Dissanayake which saw Royal triumph by 18-8.

In 2005 the Thomians led by No 8 Namal Rajapaksa wrested back the trophy with a convincing 20-5 win at Havelock Park. In 2006 Royal skippered by serum half Chamika Sandaruwan recorded the second highest score of the series with a runaway 35 points (seven tries) to nil win over the Thomians on a rainy day at the Royal Sports Complex.

In 2007 Royal scored a hard fought 22-18 win at Longdon Place helped by two fine tries by hooker Ayesh Rajapaksa and four penalties fired across by full back Shailendra Chandrasekera. In 2008 Royal helped by the heroics of No 8 Bilal Hassen scored an easy 22-5 win at the Royal Sports Complex with Bilal Hassen, Duminda Attygalle and Hashika Bandaranayake scoring tries with Shailendra Chandrasekera converting two tries and putting over a penalty.

In 2009 Naren Dhason's all conquering Royal team took a commanding 26-5 lead at the breather but the Thomians staged a magnificent fight-back in the second half to take the lead at 33-31 before Royal's full back Shailendra Chandrasekera fired across two 25 metre penalties in the last five minutes to give Royal a 37-33 win.

In 2010 Royal turned in a dazzling display of rugby to score a runaway 38-12 win at the Royal sports Complex to notch up the second highest score in the series with centre Mushin Faleel and No 8 Shehan Pathirana stealing the limelight with two tries each.

Last year (2011) Royal who went in as firm favourites despite missing the services of skipper Shehan Pathirana were led 7-0 at the breather with the first half turning out to be a kicking duel by the two full backs-Damien Ratwatte (Royal) and Devin Jayasinghe (S. Thomas’)

After resumption the Royalists asserted their superiority to score three tries through Rimzi Jamaldeen, Wasim Bawa and Yaseen Yusuf to emerge victorious by 22-7 to make it six-in a row.