Can Royal make the unthinkable happen at the Bradby Shield decider?

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Royal College will walk onto the field in Colombo on Saturday with a load on their shoulders when they take on arch-rivals Trinity at the Second Leg of the Bradby Shield annual rugby encounter.

A fact that would really give the host team something to munch on and find strength for Saturday is the thought that Trinity too would be jittery because the lads from the Central Hills did not build enough of a cushion despite winning the first game up in the cool climes of Pallakele. A 13-10 win means Trinity will start the second leg with a thin three-point lead which can be reduced or overtaken in a matter of minutes when the two teams battle for honours in Colombo.

Royal College has proved to be the better side this season and on paper, they are the favourites; given the match is played on a ‘turf’ well-known to them. They would throw everything behind their efforts to take the Shield to their trophy cupboard. Royal are led by second-row forward Randul Senanayake while Trinity are captained by back-division utility player Atab Manzil.

As for the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) this game is only of traditional interest to these two schools because the school rugby authorities took note only of the first leg result of this encounter to feed the points table of the on-going inter-school league rugby tournament. From these two teams, only Royal qualified for the Super round of the inter-school under 19 ‘Fifteen-a-Side’ league tournament along with Isipatana, St. Anthony’s and St. Peter’s.

The teams:

Trinity College rugby pool:

S. Alexander, D. Watagoda, M. Silva, J. Basnayake, V. Kumarage, N. Kumarasinghe, H. Samaraweera, C. Dhanapala, M. Raizan, Atab Manzil (Captain ), H. Faizal, R. Wanasinghe, Anuhas Kodithuwakku, S. Satheeskumar, Shan Althaf, J. Samarakoon, T. Dissanayake, J. Peter, R. Bandaranayake, R. Ilangarathne, Y. Ariyawansha, I. Munasinghe, M. Usman.

Royal College rugby pool:

T. Gamage, I. Azeer, H. Hussein, B. Malalagama,Y. Rajasinghe, Randul Senanayake (Captain), Y. Senewirathne, T. Hassen, Simak Shafeek, Thivain Perera, C. Senewirathne, P. Samarakoon, Philio Calyanarathne, Disas Pathirana, Nabel Yahiya, A. Akram, R.John, Y. Weerasuriya, Y. Ethugala, C. Samarasinghe, H. Hussein, N. Mohammed, D. Gamanayake.