Royal regains Bradby Shield after two yrs.

Wins 65th encounter 53-27:

by Jatila KARAWITA

Being on a hiding to nothing, on the eve of the game, Trinity College, Kandy came up against a marauding set of forwards from Royal College, Colombo, before the latter stormed to a conclusive 31-15 win over the former, in the second-leg of the 65th Bradby series, ended at the Royal Sports Complex, yesterday.

Thus, Royal College, Colombo, regained the coveted Bradby Shield, with a combined tally of 53 to 27 points, after their 22-12 first-leg triumph up in Bogambara a fortnight ago, since 2007, when they last lifted the trophy under Manil Abeyratne.

Royal, forwards were in their element throughout, outplaying their counterparts in the loose, with crack number eight Hamza Hassen being outstanding.

And even though, poor ball-handling skills pegged them back and at least cost them two tries, in the second-half, Royal were by far the superior outfit at the park, against an unimpressive effort from the ‘Lions’.

Trinity were all at sea, in the first-half, with their defence coming under a right ‘Royal’ onslaught in the first 40-minute period, but managed to redeem themselves, with an improved defence, after the turn around.

The winners collected their points from three converted tries, and two tries, while the visitors replied with a converted try, a try and a penalty goal, as the hosts outscored the ‘Lions’, by five tries to two, in a rousing contest.

Royal College, totally dominated the first-half opening up a 26-3 lead, spiced with four superb tries, as Trinity were duly put the sword, thus sealing the Bradby for 2009 for the lads from Reid Avenue.

It was Trinity College, Kandy, who drew first blood in the 6th minute, when right-wing Kenon Armstrong fired a 25-metre penalty goal, for a 3-0 lead, before Royal took over to seal the game. For the winners, number eight Hamza, grabbed their first try in the 14th minute off a trademark lethal break from a close-range scrum, before fly half and skipper Naren Dhason, added the finishing touches to a classy mid-field break by blindside flanker Hasthika Bandaranayake in the 27th minute.

Six minutes later, openside flanker Shehan Pathirana, scored Royal’s third try as a result of cohesive work by their forwards and backs, while on the stroke of half-time, lock Ranga Perera also joined the try-scoring bandwagon, with a fine touchdown.

Inside centre Mushin Faleel, converted three of the first-half tries, before Trinity managed to stifle their rivals with a stout-hearted defence in the second-half.

For Trinity, the two Armstrong brothers, came to the fore in this half, with right-wing Kennon scoring their first try in the 51st minute, before number eight Shannon grabbed the other one in stoppage time.

For Royal, left-wing Shammil Ahmed claimed their solitary try in the 62nd minute, off a fine backline move, but they were let down by inept ball-handling for most part, which put paid to their chances of amassing an even bigger score on the board.