Royal to make it 4 in a row

By Shamseer Jaleel

Royal College are overwhelming favourites to retain the Bradby Shield for four years in tandem when they lock horns with Trinity College in the second leg of the 74th Bradby Shield encounter which will be worked off at the Trinity College Rugby Stadium in Pallekelle today. Kick-off is scheduled at 4.15 p.m. 

Royal carry a healthy lead of 32 points into the second leg after their one-sided victory witnessed in the first leg two weeks back. This season Royal is a well-balanced outfit with both their forwards and backs sharing the honours equally. It’s doubtful whether there is any opposing school that can really beat this Royal outfit in the second round of Cup Championship. The closest could be Peterites or Isipathana.

In the second leg, Royal looks rock solid with their forwards Maleesha Madhumewan and Himesha Hirushan in the thick of things. The pack has weight and mobility. With Head Coach Dushan Lewke›s scrum techniques Royal will surely dominate their counterparts. For the rolling maul, Trinity has no answer as yet. Skipper Shabith Feroze, Nikhil de Silva, Janidu Dilshan,Thulaib Hassen and Dulan Gunawardena are a superb set of back-line players. Royal with 32 points in hand will go flat out and punish Trinity for every mistake they make.

The Trinity side needs to take care of their defence. They will need to contain the Royalists man-to-man, stop the Royalists in their tracks. The Trinity forwards are led by Mohammed Ikram who is excellent in defence but after his knee injury last season he is yet to get into top form this season. If Trinity uses Amith Kulatunga as scrum-half in the early stages they could put pressure on the Reid Avenue outfit. Skipper Sheik, Warren Weerakoon and Vishwa Ranaraja are star acts. They will miss out on their centre Naveen Rajaratnam who is still recovering from his injury. Further, Sheik will need to take the kick at goal with Saklasuriya failing to find his place in the starting line up. Kicks at goal could be vital and keep pressure away whenever they get a kickable penalty. In the recent past, Trinity three quarters and Royal forwards were the strengths of either team but this time it could be other way around. Trinity have retained the Shield for six years in tandem from 1952 to 1957 while Royal›s best is from 2001 to 2004.

Can Trinity make a repeat performance of 1973? When an inexperienced Trinity side led by Jeffrey Yu won the second leg 12-4 in Colombo though losing out on the Bradby after losing the first leg 18-4. Trinity had their final warm-up and team building in Nuwara Eliya while the Royalists arrived in Kandy two days before the game and had their sessions at Nittawela Rugby Stadium.

Royal – Sasith Siyath, Ifham Fareed, Unduruwa Bimsara, Fadhil Adahan, Radesh Wijetraten, Maleesha Madumevan, Himantha Hirushan, Nikil de Silva, Lehan Gunaratne, Shabith feroze (Capt), Thulaib Hassen, Janidu Dilshan, Yasas Rashmika and Dulan Gunawardena 

Reserves – Rajindu Jayasuriya, Banwaja Samaranayake, Kevin Samarasekera, Samadhi Induruwa, Mubeen Faleel, Mohamed Nawran, Kalindu Nandila, Maleesha Perera, Migara Mihisanka and Deshan Perera 

Trinity – Praveenda Wijethilaka, Niranjan Vitharana, Mahadi Abdullah, Yomal Bandara, Mecan Yashwantha, Mohamed Ikram, Dulanjith Nethwara, Lenox Calyanaratne, Amith Kulatunge, Avishka Sheik, Vishwa Ranaraja, Mohamed Shuaib, Warren Weerakoon, Reshan Bandaranayake and Danidu Herath 

Reserves – Naveen Rajaratnam, Akitha Sakalasuriya, Nimesh Ekanayake, Joshua Peter, Dhiren ratwatte, Zayd Faizal, Prabath Wimal and Janidu Ratnayake.