Royal win but Trinity regain Bradby Shield

By Shamseer Jaleel reporting from Kandy

Trinity were lucky enough to regain the Bradby Shield thanks to their good performance in the First Leg. It was a different story at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy yesterday where Royal playing excellent running rugby beat Trinity by 8 points (1 try and 1 penalty) to nil in the 64th Bradby Shield in front of a packed stadium. At the short breather the scores were deadlocked at nil-all.

Royal College story this season was simply team work, commitment, determination. They never gave up after their deficit of 12 points in the initial leg. For Trinity they looked a yard slower and their approach for the game was very lethargic. They seems to have lost focus on the game.

The more the game went on the more that Royal proved what a good combination they were. At the start Royal came out with some spoiling work and did get in to the Trinity territory, but they lacked finishing touches.

Trinity defended well in the initial half. On the other hand Royal hooker Bilal Hassan was outstanding. He was rock solid in defence and attack he split the Trinity defence into pieces on a number of occasions. He was the difference between the two sides.

After the deadlocked first half where Trinity missed two kicks at goal and Royal missed one. Royal drew first blood in the 10th minute of the second half when Trinity line was spotted off side.

Shailendra Chandrasegar was on target with a kick at goal. Royal winger Nabeel Faizer settled in the second half to dash through the shell shocked Trinity defence to score by the left corner flag.

The kick at goal was missed by Shailendra Chandrasegar. Royal kept on attacking in Trinity territory but were well marked. For Trinity scrum half Adeeb Hameed and Idris Omar were outstanding in defence as well as in attack. While for Royal it was Bilal Hassen and Shailendra Chandrasegar who showed their colours with a superb display.

Hats off to the Royal coaches C. P. Abeygunawardena and Nizam Jamaldeen where they have maulded the side after early set backs in the season. They had a tough season where they went down to Kingswood and Isipathana early days.

But they re-grouped and showed marked improvement in the last few outings. On the other hand Trinity who hit the peak too early against Isipathana. There level of performance went down with the season progressing.

Pradeep Basnayake and Anil Jayasinghe coached Trinity where they ended the season by becoming league runner up with six wins. The Chief Guest at yesterday’s game was the 1970 Trinity skipper and “Lion” Seevali Samarasekera. He also represented the Kandy Sports Club, Sri Lanka Police and the National Team.

Trinity regained the Bradby Shield after they won last in 2006. The aggregate was 24 points to 20 points.

Dilroy Fernando also created history when he officiated in his 15th Bradby Shield game in his career spanning over 16 years of refereeing. This is also a unique Bradby record. He did a good job in controlling the thirty young lads and allowing the game to flow without a break.

Royal won the Simithrarachchi Trophy when they beat Trinity 8-0. They also won the first leg 13-5.

In the junior games - Under 12-A Trinity beat Royual 21-7, under 12-B Trinity beat Royal 19-0

Under 14-A Trinity beat Royal 19-0, unde 14-B Trinity beat Royal 17-0

Under 16 Trinity beat Royal 14-0.