Lions shed their Manes to sport Cubs Rugby

The preamble

If someone who had no idea about the ‘25 schools’ rugby season, was asked to guess who the League Champs were, adjudging merely by the performances in this game, and not by the result itself; Royal College would have been the unanimous pick, before letting eyelids bat. There was absolutely no shred of supremacy portrayed by the unbeaten League Champions (unbeaten, according to the hardline of the Columnist), who seem to have let their hair down, along with their game, following a historic and life altering League victory, whose celebrations may have gone on too long, while the deep sense of achievement was perceived to be the ultimate honour. As Royal College wished for only one thing this year, they had adequately elevated their game in most departments, but regrettably didn’t find a worthy nemesis turnup for the most colourful and extravagant event of the season in Kandy. In spite of all this, the greatest astonishment for a keen observer would be, as to how Royal was able to win by only 10 points, against the incomparable, substandard display of Trinity rugby, that made it quite an uninteresting affair for a neutral follower to stay glued to the seat without checking the time every other minute to verify the remaining period of entrapment.

For those who haven’t yet watched this game, but assumed that the reason for the low scoring was due to tight defence efforts by both sides, they cannot be more wrong. Although some good, coordinated defence skills were exhibited in this encounter, more so by the Royal Tuskers, they were just occasionally complementing the frequent blemishes by the attacking sides, which was the primary cause for the low scores.

Tale of two halves

In order to illustrate the uneventful storyline of the 1st Leg, it makes total sense to break it down into two halves as usual, as it shall accurately depict the intent, mindset, composure along with its mortal timeline, and the final output of both sides. Exploring as to what skills were affected by Trinity’s league winning mentality, against why Royal couldn’t make the most of this magnificent, one-time opportunity to seal the Bradby deal on the initial Leg itself, are what on the cards in this analysis.

As forecasted in the preview, Royal cautiously focused on impeccable game discipline in the opening half, while their polished ball handling further strengthened their stronghold as the Fuhrers in that half.

Conversely, Trinity’s uncontrolled discipline offered arrival gifts to their rivals, which they merrily used to encash 15 points with.

Royal scored the first Try off two back-to-back offenses, viz. ‘sealing the ball’ at a breakdown followed by ‘closing the gap’ at the subsequent lineout, both of which should have been avoided playing at this level.

A perfectly timed interception that was niftily plucked out of thin air, by a Man with a Golden Garb arriving, and whizzing past at the speed of a Roadrunner, just a tad inside Trinity’s 50, supercharged Royal to counterattack and pressurise Trinity into committing an ‘offside’ offense inside their 22. The subsequent Maul offensive from quite close to the hosts’ 10 off a kick-to-touch by the Tuskers, briskly transported them inside the 5, and as forecasted, a series of strong Pick and Drive phases traumatised the Trinity Forwards enough to abandon their Posts, possibly to answer an urgent call from nature, just as the Tuskers launched the final phase of the series, only to arrive at a wide open and abandoned goal line with no one to welcome them, leaving the Lions’ highly reputed fringe defence in tatters.

5 out of 8 Trinity’s offenses occurred in Royal’s half consisting of 2 dangerous tackles that should have been coached into their game by now, minimising their chances of turnovers and counterattacks, but instead invited Royal to hyperdrive into the hosts’ front yard.

Trinity’s only consolation Try of the game came off a crooked throw by Royal, that got the former a scrum just inside the visitors’ 50. This was possibly the only time Trinity’s Backline worked the ball flawlessly at lightning velocity in the entire game, selling a perfect dummy in order to break through the last line of the Tuskers’ defence, to score an unconverted near-corner Try.

Although the easy penalty kick that was missed by Trinity wouldn’t have changed the outcome of this Leg, it is very likely to come back to bite the hind Leg of the Lions at the conclusive Leg.

As usual, the Royal Tuskers were able to successfully contain their offenses only in one half, and thereby allowed the Lions to attack during most part of the latter half, which prevented them from capitalising on a tremendous opportunity to pile up 30 plus points in this Leg, which they might come to regret later, if the Lions manage to grow back their Manes within a fortnight.

Although Trinity curtailed its offenses in the latter half, the bizarre number of unforced handing errors continuously disrupted their onslaughts, despite Royal’s best comradery efforts to make the contest even with their contribution of 13 infringements. Every time Royal gifted a penalty offering to their rivals, it was used to gain access into the opposition’s grid, but only to give up possession, a few minutes later.

Some of the imminent Try scoring opportunities were missed by the home team, too close to the visitors’ line of prestige, due to own blunders. Trinity’s unforced knock forward near Royal’s 5m was one, while their only crooked throw of the half that occurred on Royal’s 5m, flushed another brilliant opportunity down the drain.

Some of the other few onslaughts carried out in desperation by Trinity were effectively disturbed by Royal’s well-marked and unwavering tackling, out of which two were turned over by hard tackles.

Although our forecast predicted that Royal would play for 20 minutes with 14 players, they ended up playing for 30 minutes instead, owing to 3 yellow cards. However, with Trinity’s degraded form in this game, Royal could have managed with even a Golden dozen of defenders.

Royal missed a chance of extending the lead by at least 5 points, almost on the opposition’s sacred line, due to a sneaky double-move under a pile of bodies by the tackled ball carrier, which was an instance of the nurtured behaviour manifesting itself at a crucial moment, also forecasted in our preview. This might prove to be a pivotal moment that the Royal coaching unit would reminisce, in case the southern Leg goes south for them.

The final verdict

Trinity’s unforced knock forwards count was in line with their past 3 performances, and would have been tolerable in the absence of other unforced errors. Royal College has been forcing 2-3 knock forwards per game with their defensive efforts, hence was on the cards anyway. The steep increase in forward passes and passing errors (inaccurate passes) clearly indicate that Trinity was quite edgy at the presence of the Royal Tuskers, who have been preparing an extra special game, just for them. The billion-dollar question is, how could they even feel this way, when playing at home? The Tuskers’ sudden accelerated rush defence in the final half was another clear reason for the blemished ball handling by the Trinitians, as it has previously surged in their games against quick defenders.

While throwing only one directly to the opposition jumpers at the lineouts in each of their previous 6 games, and while not conceding a single crooked throw in their last 5 games, it is now crystal clear that the Lions shape shifted into Cubs, at the intimidating sight of the mighty and purposeful Royal Tuskers!

(The analyst can be reached at: [email protected]) 

Pics courtesy of thepapare.com