Underdogs Trinity College turned tables on favourites Royal with a magnificent all-round performance to clinch the Bradby Shield first-leg rugby encounter 13-10 at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
Despite starting the game under tremendous pressure, the Trinitians stuck to their task and rattled their opponents with all their points coming in the second half through a goal and two penalties.
Royal, of course, made a great start to the game and were able to take the initiative with an early try but they somewhat lost the momentum in the second half and ended up with two unconverted tries.
Trailing 0-10 at the break, the home side came back with a terrific performance to turn the game in their favour with 16-year-old place-kicking sensation Shan Althaf, playing in his first Bradby encounter, firing the match winning penalty with just two minutes before the final whistle.
In fact, this game was a memorable outing for the young fly half as he lifted the Trinitians with a fine exhibition of place-kicking where he added the extra points to their solitary try and converted two penalties having fumbled with three penalties earlier in the first half.
In contrast, Royal certainly lacked the services of a reliable place kicker and they paid the penalty by failing to find touch and clear their defence under pressure despite having trained under a specialised kicking coach throughout the season.
Simak Shafeek’s failure to convert both tries proved to be costly for Royal in the end while Nabil Yehiya always struggled to find touch under pressure in addition to missing a vital penalty in the second half.
In fact, Trinity’s solitary try was a virtual gift from Royal as their desperate attempt to clear the defence inside their goal line resulted in the home side regaining possession and after multiple phases, Thisanga Dissanayake touched down to level the scores 10-10. Earlier, Royal showed promise and looked like they would win this game by a convincing margin after scoring twice inside the first 30 minutes of play through Philio Calyaneratne and Buwaneka Senanayake.
D. S. Senanayake v S. Thomas’
D. S. Senanayake College produced another giant-killing performance to topple the favourites S. Thomas’ College 13-10 in their Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament match played at Havelock Park.
Once again, it was another fly half, Shehada Umagiliyage, who made the difference between the two teams by putting over the match winning penalty during the dying moments of the game. The Thomians looked very confident at the start of this decisive game before D. S. Senanayake came back storming with two unconverted tries from Skipper Jayathu Rajarathna and Thiven Perera.
St. Anthony’s v Kingswood
St. Anthony’s College raised their chances of securing a Super Round spot by overcoming Kingswood College 26-10 in a vital Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament fixture played at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
The Antonians also managed to collect an extra bonus point by scoring four tries as Skipper and fly half Sahan Keerthisiri led from the front by converting three of those tries.
Isipathana v Wesley
Isipathana College concluded their first-round matches in the same way they began the tournament by cruising to a
Action from the match between St. Peter’s and Science College
convincing 24-11 victory over Wesley College in their Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament match played at Havelock Park.
The defending champions produced another clinical performance as they ran down four magnificent tries and converted two of them to finish on top of Group 1A with the maximum points.
Wesley were able to add some pressure on their opponents initially but their resistance was finally shattered as the consistent winger Rinesh Silva cut loose twice followed by a try each from Kenula Hettiarachchi and Skipper Naveen Kanishka.
St. Peter’s v Science College
St. Peter’s College powered their way to an emphatic 29-0 victory over Science College in their Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament match played at Bambalapitiya.
Their victory was always there from the moment Dulaj Navodya scored a try in the very first minute of the game following an interception and they added four more tries before the final whistle to seal their fifth successive victory.
Vidyartha v Zahira
The newcomers to ‘A’ Division rugby this season, Zahira College achieved another landmark when they outplayed favourites Vidyartha College 23-3 in their Inter-Schools Under-19 Division One League Rugby Tournament match played at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy.
Despite performing away from home, the Zahirians gave a good account of themselves and completely rattled their opponents to score three splendid tries and record their third win of the tournament.
Chris Dhambarage