Lions Mauled in Royal Den
- 71st Bradby Shield
Royal – 49 Trinity – 0
By Dion Michael
Royal regained the prestigious Bradby Shield in scintillating style when they thrashed their arch rivals Trinity College 49-0 in the second leg of their inter-school rugby clash at the Royal Sports Complex yesterday.
Royal who had won the first leg in Pallekele Kandy two weeks ago by the wafer thin margin of 23-22 ensured they regained the coveted Bradby Shield after a lapse of four years by a record aggregate of 72-22.
Royal’s points came from 4 goals, 3 tries and 2 penalties to which Trinity failed to get any points on the board. The winners led 18-0 at half time.
The Royal Sports Complex was packed to capacity and there was a carnival atmosphere all around the vicinity of Reid Avenue as those who could not get entrance tickets settled down in front of large TV screens at the Bradby Fiesta in the adjoining grounds.
Most Trinity fans would not have expected their side to win the game as Royal began firm favourites especially after the win in the first leg. However, even the Royalists would have been slightly surprised at the final margin of victory and the fact that Trinity was only in the game for the first ten minutes as the Reid Avenue boys came up with a right royal performance.
The game began with Trinity on the attack and enjoying more possession of the ball which they choose to kick deep into Royal territory catching their opponents off guard. Trinity also had the opportunity to draw first blood when they were awarded a penalty but the kick was astray and that was to be the closest they came to scoring.
The scores were deadlocked in the first 15 minutes and the a deep kick into Trinity territory saw the trinity winger knock on about 10 metres from his goal-line. The ensuing scrum was the ideal situation for Royal’s number eight Supun Warnakulasuriya to use the rolling maul and he duly obliged. Ovin Asky made no mistake with the conversion from mid right to put Royal 7-0 ahead.
Five minutes later Asky added a penalty to increase the tally to 10-0. Royal scored again when winger ferose put the finishing touches to a lovely move with forwards and backs combining beautifully. Asky missed the corner flag conversion but made amends with his second penalty just before half time for Royal to lead 18-0.
After the resumption Royal launched into attack mode and their forwards kept testing the Trinity defence until Warnakulasuriya went over by the corner flag. Asky’s conversion from the corner was the icing on the cake. 25-0.
Five minutes later Royal’s winger was touching down again in the corner after another entertaining run by the backs. The conversion was missed 30-0.
Trinity’s day then got worse when a hasty attempted clearance fell into the hands of Royal’s winger who sprinted 70 metres to score under the post. The easy conversion swelled the lead to 37-0. Trin ity had hardly got their breath back when Royal’s threes were running in yet another try in the corner. 42-0.
Another rolling maul yielded one more try which was again converted well from the corner. Trinity made a last ditch effort to put some points on the board but they were thwarted by the Royal defence and Referee Rankotge whistled signaled the end of the torture for Trinity and sparked wild celebrations for the hosts.
