Will Trinity prove a point in Colombo?

The second round games will kick off in a week and in the interim the traditional fixtures will be on show. 

Once again its Bradby time and the focus will shift to Colombo. After finally breaking a few years of hoodoo of not winning in the Lion’s den, RC scraped through by the thinnest of margins. Thus the return game will be fierce with each of the teams wanting to prove a point, and that should spur them on to indulge in some exciting rugby.

The first game was highlighted by individual brilliance and for the sake of good rugby; we hope that there will be more of a team effort when scoring. A lot of school teams over the past years have relied on a few key players in the guise of them being termed as ‘playmakers’. The game has evolved in the international circuit to a very large extent and we now see that all players on the field have three key roles to fulfil.

One is that their positional play must be of the highest standard, if not you are now exposed very quickly by your opposite number. For example the prop forwards must get their binding and body position right, as with the need of the hooker to actually strike the ball, the opposing teams have been known to win the ball as a result of all eight indulging in a concerted push. 

Secondly the play associated with attack and being in the right place at the right time. We have on the international circuits seen the NZ Kieran Read score many a try at the far end of the field although sporting a number 8 jersey. We have seen a few clubs trying to emulate that style of play but then there is a class difference and finesse when it is executed by the All Blacks. 

Thirdly is the play associated with defence. Gone are the days when you were responsible for your opposite number and with that your day’s work in the office was considered as complete. In the modern game you are responsible for that and more and nothing should get past you within a tram line distance. 

In the first game, the breakaway try scored by the TCK forward should have been stopped had the defence got its act together, more so as the forward was not the most fleet footed of players on the park on that day. 

A number of people will argue that it is easy for armchair critics to pin point flaws in the comfort of the pavilion and with the benefit of replays. The game is such that it has always taught you to think on your feet real time and take decisions within a split second. In that respect nothing has changed. 

The corporate world with the advancement of technology is like that and at times we are bombarded with so much of information and analytics that we lose the ability to think rationally due to an overload of data. 

Similarly, both teams would have done their homework after the first game and planning a strategy based solely on that performance is fraught with an unacceptable level of risk. Thus the skill of both team management and caching staff would be to get the right mix and balance and whilst relying on the various software that is available to analyse game situations, over reliance must be avoided.

TCK will be very eager and determined to go back with a win and in the process wipe out the single point margin that separates the two teams from the shield at the moment. If they are successful, the trip back to the hills will be more enjoyable and who knows we may see the Trinity Haka Raiona Manawa once more.

One again it’s an opportunity for all those young lads and lasses to be physically visible at the game, given the wide media coverage. Despite some not worrying too much on the finer points of the game, they can at least lay claim that ‘I was there’. 

 (The writer can be reached via [email protected].)