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First leg of 67th Bradby shield rugby encounter on
May 28th at Bogambara:
Can Royal halt Trinity’s winning sequence?
by S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Corr
RUGBY: Trinity College, after their morale boosting 34 - 10 win over
St. Peter’s College, go out favourites to win the ‘first leg’ of the
67th Bradby Shield encounter which will be played at the Bogambara
Stadium, Kandy, on Saturday May 28th. Kick-off will be at 4.45 p.m.
  Royalists are unbeaten todate this season but the Trinitians have
faced one reversal at the hands of Science College. So an interesting
battle is on that cards whether the Reid Avenue school maintains their
unbeaten tag or will meet their waterloo at the hands of the Kandy
school.
Of the 66 matches that have been played Trinity College are in the
lead with 35 wins against 30 by Royal while one match ended in a ‘tie’
when both matches ended in draws in 1992.
When talking of the Bradby, one remembers the unique record of
Maurice Perera and his family. Maurice Perera played as a ‘prop’ forward
for Trinity in 1953 and was in the winning team led by Dharmasiri
Madugalle. In fact Trinity College owe their lead in the series for the
longest sequence of wins when they won six encounters on a trot from
1952 to 1957. Maurice Perera later played for All Ceylon with
distinction when the game was dominated by the British living in Sri
Lanka. His son Devapriya Perera played for Trinity and his grandson Sean
Wanigasekera jnr. did one better by captaining the side and also winning
the coveted rugby ‘lion’, a few years back.
But the Perera’s will be best remembered for the record which stands
unparalled is both father Maurice and son Devapriya coached Trinity
College and guided them to victories, Trinity under Maurice Perera
regained the
Bradby Shield under Ravi Balasuriya by a margin of 22-10 after they
were trounced by a huge margin of 61-0 the previous year (1976) which
was then the biggest margin of win.
Trinity College led by prop forward Murad Ramseen has played 7
matches winning six and losing one. They beat St. Anthony’s College
10/3, beat S. Thomas’ College 75-6, beat St. Joseph’s College 38-11,
beat kingswood College 41-0, beat Wesley College 48-13 and beat St.
Peter’s College 34-10. Their only loss was to Science College 11-12 a
match they should have won with ease.
Royal College will be led by No. 8 Shehan Pathirana who is enjoying a
very good season.
Royal have beaten Thurstan College 74-0, beat Kingswood College
33-25, beat Isipathana 11-10 and beat Wesley College 33-32. They have
had some close calls especially against Issipathana College and Wesley
College and they won both matches by a single point.
Teams
Trinity (from) Inzamam Mubarak, Ravi Bandara, Murad Ramzeen
(Captain), Hasitha Perera, Randika Alwis, Uchitha Weerakoon, Savinda
Unamboowa, Sdan Peater, Sanjaya Somasiri, Rehan Weerakoon, Thisila
Karunatillake, Dilshan Kelanigoda, Mohammed Sashan, Kaneel Senaviratne,
Dinuk Nayakaratne, Sanchana Shiek, Anuradha Karunatillake, Thimiya
Gallapathige, Shehan Badul, Priyan Fernando, Thisara Warapitiya, Haliq
Wadood, Kanishka Yatawara, Dharshana Udalugama. (Coach Milfer Ibrahim)
Royal (from) Shehan Pathirana (Captain), Dameek Ratnayake, Tharaka
Wijesuriya, Arahard Jamaldeen, Andrew Siriwardena, Wasim Hamar, Adil
Jabbar, Irosha de Alwis, Yasin Yoosuf, Lahiru Pavithra, Madusha
Kularatne, Dilepa Jayatillake, Ijaz Bohoran, Damine Ratwatte, Azman
Khan, Rimzi Jamaldeen, Shavinda Dharmadasa, Ashan Bandara, Sachita
Wijeratne, Devin de Silva, Tharindu Abeysekera, Anjana Kadanetty, (Coach
Theo Seracism).
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