ROYAL SEEK SECOND LEGTURNAROUND TO TAKE BACK BRADBY SHIELD
The second leg of the 69th Bradby Shield encounter between traditional rivals Royal College and Trinity College is scheduled to kick off at the Royal Sports Complex ground in Colombo today from 4.30 p.m. onwards.
It is no doubt going to be a test for Royal, who with a deficit of 12 points will be seeking to regain their lost prestige, having lost the first leg 37-25 which was played at Pallekele twoweeksago.
But Trinity will be coming into the game with a load of confidence and also looks set to retain the title for the third year running. They have laid the foundation after their nerve wracking first leg victory.
The win Trinity gained was after conceding an 8-18 at half time lead to their opponents as they struck back in the latter stages of the match to record a morale boosting win. How they cleared their first hurdle was quite impressive as they were under tremendous pressure in the early stages of the game after Royal had mounted a massive attack through their heavy set of forwards.
The Lions were able to recover magnificently in the second half and went on to showcase their talent and potential with some ferocious rugby scoring three tries in the space of ten minutes which helped them to complete a clinical win at the end.
Now after a break of two weeks Trinity will return to Colombo in a buoyant mood and very much in control of the situation as they will face their rivals in their own den with a healthy lead of 12 points.
Even then Trinity seems to be enjoying playing away from home because they have dished out some of their best rugby this season while competing in Colombo. The high profile fixture against St. Peter's College was a good example where the Trinitians cleared all odds to pull off a stunning 35-25 victory.
Even last year they had a tough Bradby Shield first leg in Colombo but showed tremendous courage and determination to beat Royal College 34-11 in a game which was marred with controversy due to indecent crowd behavior.
There is no doubt the odds will be heavily against Royal as they will have to first erase the 12 point deficit if they are looking to pull off the match by a convincing margin if they are to prevent Trinity from completing a hat-trick of victories intheBradbySeries.
As mentioned Royal will first have to wipe out the deficit and then concentrate on building up points on that success in their attempt to maintain their excellent home record this season but more importantly to regain the Bradby Shield after a lapse of three years. However looking back at history Royal has been able to make a comeback after conceding the first leg only twice in the entire series since 1945 in the Bradby series. So it's
going to be a daunting taskfortheReidAvenueboys.
The two occasions they made a comeback after losing the first leg was in 1979 and 1998. In 1979 Royal led by R. B. Gunasekera lost the first leg 3-4 and came back to win the second leg 18-0 and in 1998 Royal under the leadership of W. S. S. Perera went down 18-20 in the first leg but pulled off a resounding 42-11 triumph in the second leg.
Royal would have now remedied their shortcomings of their first leg clash in Pallekele as they put in a poor display in the second half to give 29 points to their opponents and was able to add only eight points in this session.
Trinity will once again try to put in a repeat performance and exploit Royals weakest link through their firebrand rugby which they have dished out almost throughout the current season.
They may not be able to match their opponents heavy set of forwards but they have succeeded in making huge amends through their dynamic set of three quarters who have performed their task to near perfection.
It was the Trinity's back division that masterminded their splendid win in the first leg in Pallekele and they will look towards repeating that performance in Colombo while Royal on the other hand will be seeking to grab the Bradby Shield which they last won in 2010.
Theteams:
Royal College - Azman Khan, Chameera Gamage, Dian Lokugamage, Kaveen Perera, Shahir Haniffa, Thivanka Perera, Chevindu Sathsara, Supun Perera, Ashan Bandara, Chandula Jayasundera, Devin de Silva, Keshan Peiris, Manusha Abeykoon, Shuaib Jabbar, Yasuon Weerasuriya, Dineth Karunaratne, Ibrahim Mohideen, Nadun Jayawardena, Pasindu Perera, Shuayb Muthalip, Daniel Gulasekharam, Mujeeb Faleel, Rimzi Jamaldeen (captain), Banuka Gamage, Naveen Perera, Akash Iddawela, Avin Gunawardena, Dashitha Senanayake, Nimshan Jayewardena, Senura Liyanage, Udesh Ranaweera, Aaaqil Jamaldeen, Shahid Bahudeen,UdeshUdawatte.
Trinity College Anuruddha Karunatilake, Sanka Ethulgama, Sajith Thalahagoda, Nipun Alahakoon, Nilas Sakalasooriya, Kennneth Gamage, Kishin Sivasubramanium, Nethmal Sakalasooriya, Nathan Chung, Isuru Rangala, Umesh Samarasekara, Rahul Karunatilaka, Shahim Singalaxana, Aaquif Sarooj, Ashan Perera, Naresh Perera, J. D. J. Perera, Tharinda Ratwatte, Danesh Perera, Dinuk Ratwatte, Lochana Girihagama, Nishan Handunge, Lakvin Gunasekara, Prasad Gunasekera, Sachintha Dissanayake, Dureka Aluwihare, Sheham Perera, Saranga Gunatilake, Rukshan Sasmin, Sanchana Shiek, Ryan Weerakoon, Halique Wadood (captain)