Reality check for Peterites

The date was 20 May and the time was about 4 p.m. The end of Duplication Road was a hive of activity. The reason – the Trinity lions were to play the highflying Peterites in a game of rugby.I struggled to find a ‘parking slot’ and finally did so almost a kilometre away from the SPC grounds. As I made my trek to the ground I met an ‘old boy’ of Trinity.

He was excited as ever and told me that Trinity would definitely win. We discussed the merits of the two teams. As we stood in line to purchase our tickets – Rs. 500 to stand in the sun, we parted company.

The ground was full and the cheers of ‘Go Petes Go’ were loud.  This was soon followed by the chant ‘T - R - I - N - I - T - Y’... I looked around and saw many familiar faces some of the names I could recollect, whilst the others were just memories of them playing some schoolboy prank many years ago… the pranks were fresh in my mind as I glanced across at the Wellawatte canal. Oh Boy those were the fun days…

I soon settled into my favourite position so that I would not miss a kick / tackle or try…  The game started on time — a few things these days that start on time. Soon Trinity were in their stride and the scoreboard read 12 Nil. The Peterites were shouting themselves hoarse as they willed their team to win.  The game slowly drifted away from the grasp of the Peterites. Man for man I thought that Trinity played a better brand of Rugby. It was evident that the stinging loss that Trinity had at the hands of Science College had done them a world of good. Trinity had come with a plan and executed it with Swiss precision. The forwards played good and steady rugby. They were quick to the ball and on many occasions were accredited with providing turnover ball. On the other hand the Petes had had it easy thus far meeting reasonably weaker teams. Thus on this day they were found wanting. They did not have a plan B and looked rattled at the wave of attack that came their way courtesy of the Trinity forwards.  All along it had been my view that the weak link of the Peterites was their forwards and this turned out to be correct. The Trinitians on their part tackled with great enthusiasm and ensured that the Peterite back division was not given room to move.

I was impressed with the new code of conduct that has been introduced by the Peterites. As a result there was no hooting or cat calls as a player lined up to take a kick at goal. What a refreshing change – maybe the hooligan’s game played by gentleman and witnessed by gentleman had come to roost.

As I watched the game slowly drift away from the Peterites I recalled the many encounters that SPC had with Trinity.  In the early / late ’70s the Peterite coach Archibald Perera would dream of the day that we could beat Trinity. The Peterites came close, and yet would fluff at the last hurdle. The heart wrenching game where the last kick taken by the great Frank Hubert was vivid as ever and as the ball hit the cross bar and bounced back into play, the Trinitians kicked the ball out to touch, the final whistle of the referee was heard and with that the dreams of many Peterites were shattered.

Trinity has a big assignment on 28 May as they play the first leg of the Bradby shield up in Kandy. It should be a cracker game and if Trinity can play the same brand of rugby as done the week before the Royalists may be in for a rude shock.  So then it’s all roads lead to Kandy on Saturday and I know for sure that there are many reunion parties scheduled for Friday night. The ale will flow in abundance and there is adequate time to recover from the hangover.