Kicker Althaf gives Trinity inspiring Bradby Shield first-leg win

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Trinity College produced a piece of sensation when they recorded a remarkable come-from-behind 13-10 win against Trinity in the first leg of the 77th Bradby Shield which was played at Pallakelle Stadium on Saturday (July 22).

On paper Royal were the hot favourites having made a name for themselves as a team which can suck the energy out of any team in the second half. But that reputation of Royal’s rugby team was tested by Trinity all the way in a blockbuster 70-minute game of rugby where the hosts took away the game from Royal in the final 10 minutes of the encounter. Tell the Royalists were leading 10-3.

The unlikely hero for Trinity was 16-year-old fly-half Shan Althaf who kicked right two penalties and a conversion and also fed his threes who were threatening to score at every given opportunity.

Royal dominated much of the first half and did the most important thing; turning pressure into points. Royal lived up to their reputation of being one of the best sides this season and showed how easy try scoring is with a soft try by centre Philio Calyanaratne with the game just 11 minutes old. The backline move surprisingly caught Trinity napping when defence was most needed and when Calyanaratne scored there was hardly anybody there to even to stop him. The conversion went awry.

In the 29th minute of the game, Royal scored again his time through lock forward Buwaneka Senanayake who smashed his way over the line off a move which the forwards began. That conversion too failed to bring the additional points for Royal.

Trinity’s Althaf missed three vital penalties for his team in the first half; all of which were taken by him within kicking range.

Trinity had a moment to remember when Lakindu Herath scored near the left corner flag after bursting into action. But he failed to clearly ground the ball and then the try was disallowed by referee Ishanka Abeykoon after consultation with the television match referee.

What was promising to see in this game was Trinity pursuing kicking duties with Althaf in the second half too. It seemed the hosts were grooming him to continue being in charge of kicking duties for the next couple of seasons. Althaf kicked right an easy penalty in the 45th minute of the game.

Trinity’s proud moment in the game came when they crossed the Royal goal line with a forwards move which ended with Tissanka Dissanayake scoring that all-important try. Althaf made no mistake with the conversion and the scores read 10 all with about seven minutes left in the clock.

The game was closely contested from there onwards and would have gone down in the history of the Bradby Shield as one of the most exciting battles if not for the ball-handling errors by both sides. The line out play too was below par and both sides brought unforced errors to the game due to this handicap. Althaf then produced the winner with his boot by knocking over a penalty in the dying minutes of the game for Trinity.

In other games of the schools under 19 league rugby tournament played on Saturday St. Peter’s remained unbeaten in the Division 1 Segment A Group 2 of the tournament when they smashed the daylights out of Science in a game where they went on to score 29 points.

Isipatana too finished the first round unbeaten with a handsome 24-11 win against Wesley; earning their points through four tries and two conversions.On Friday (July 21) D.S. Senanayake produced a memorable 13-10 win against S. Thomas’ in a Division 1 Segment A Group 1 match of the schoools’ league rugby tournament at Havelock Park.