Royal’s Bradby magic and  S. Thomas’ rugby frolics at Bamba

by A Special Sports Correspondent

The interest for school rugby was maintained even after the league tournament thanks to the traditional rugby matches that are being worked off these days.On Friday (August 19) the Peterites did well to go down fighting against S. Thomas’ College in their annual rugby encounter played for the Archibald Perera Trophy. This match played between the two schools has garnered much interest and spectators who believe that traditions must continue came in their numbers to cheer their respective sides.

This year marked the real start to rugby after a break for the pandemic. There was only talk of a league season and the matches ended too soon. Hence the only thing that can quench the spectators’ thirst for rugby is the arrangement made to have the traditional friendly rugby matches.Archibald Perera was a distinguished old boy of St. Peter’s College and it was nice to hear the legend’s name being mentioned and a little introduction being read out about this great sportsman for the benefit of the younger generation.

The game was played at an electric pace and the visiting Thomians baffled the host team with their ability to earn tries at regular intervals. The Thomians scored on four occasions in the first half while the Peterites breached the Thomian defence twice in the first half. The game produced moments of thunder and lightning in the second half and the Peterites edged themselves past S. Thomas’ to take the lead with a try and a penalty. S. Thomas’ snatched back the lead with a well-taken penalty and held on stubbornly till the end. They went through some anxious moments when the Peterites got a penalty under the posts, but it seemed like the kicker had worn the wrong pair of boots. The chief guest at the match was that outstanding former rugby player of S. Thomas’ College Sammy Akbar. He gave away the coveted Archibald Perera Trophy to Thomian skipper Charya Kurukulasuriya at the awards ceremony.

On Saturday (August 20) Royal College earned much praise for clearing their first hurdle at the Bradby Shield rugby encounter. This Royal side has looked dangerous this season and been in contention for honours in the schools’ league rugby tournament.

The Bradby, they say, makes any ordinary team come alive and put up a fight; largely because the occasion gives the players that additional adrenaline rush. The two teams did meet during the league season and produced rib-bruising rugby in a game where the Trinitians ran away with the game (21-20). But Royal had a surprise waiting for the Trinitians. The Royalists produced action-packed rugby and earned four tries while also forcing the visitors to make errors and allow indiscipline to boil to the surface. The Trinitians conceded two red cards in the game while Royal were also down to 13 men at one stage of the game due to two yellow cards being slapped on their players.

Royal’s points came through four tries, three conversions and a penalty. The pick among the Royal players was hooker Danuja Samararatne who produced a try each in both halves. The second try was not only memorable for him but underscored the efficiency of the forwards and their ability to execute the rolling maul to perfection. The other two try scorers for Royal were Thineth Gamage and Navin Perera. Kicker Nabeel Yehiya was in amazing form knocking over three conversions and a penalty that came Royal’s way.

With one more game left in this year’s Bradby, scheduled for September 3 in Kandy, Trinity will have to do something extraordinary if they are to emerge as the winner of the second leg and take the shield with a bigger aggregate.

Also on the cards as traditional friendlies are the matches between St. Peter’s College and St. Joseph’s College played for the Fr. Basil Weeratunga Shield and the encounter between league champions Isipatana and Thurstan played for the Abdul Jabbar Shield.