Down memory lane: Trinity breaks 42 year Rugby Sevens hoodoo

By Shamseer Jaleel

Trinity is one of the few schools in the country to produce several rugby players who not only went on to play for clubs but also for the country. In the early days after playing for school they either ended up at CR & FC or Havies as most of them found employment in Colombo, as Kandy had fewer opportunities.

For any Trinitian their main focus is in winning the Bradby Shield. Though they play trophy encounters against St. Thomas’ and St. Peters’, the game against Royal is the most looked forward to, not only for Trinitians and Royalist, but for many rugby supporters all over the globe with this Bradby encounter considered the Blue Ribbon of local schools rugby. Surprisingly, their game against Isipathana, though played for many decades with good spirits between the two schools, is yet to be played for a trophy - though there may be some good reasons for this.

Every season once the league and Bradby is over the glamour is gone for these lads from the Central Hills. In the latter part of the season, may be in the last one or two decades, they played in knockout rugby as well. But the shorter Sevens rugby hardly attracted them. But in 2019 with the change of season, Sevens, which is usually played at the start of the season, was pushed back to the latter part of the season. Trinity was led by Reshan Bandarayake, a fourth generation player following in the footsteps of his great grand father, grand father, father and elder brother, all of whom went on to represent Trinity and win in either cricket or rugby. In fact, his father Rajiv Bandaranayake played for the champion 1987 outfit under Tyrel Rajapakse, when the team went on to not only remain unbeaten both in the league and knockout tournament, but their line was crossed only once - by Isipathana - throughout the whole season.

Coming into the schools Sevens tournament in 2019, Trinity had last won in 1977 under Ravi Balasuriya’s leadership. Earlier in the season, though Trinity lost out to Royal in the Bradby, they had come back magnificently to win the second leg and almost brought the Bradby Shield back to Kandy. So going into the Sevens encounter there was a glimmer of hope for the Central Hills team, especially since they were playing in their ‘backyard’ in Pallekelle.

It was a fantastic encounter played at an electrifying speed by both teams. Scores stood at nil-all until the second half when a solitary try by Janidu Ratnayake was the only difference between the two sides. But a few handling errors cost veteran Sanath Martis the chance of claiming the Sevens for the Bambalapitiya outfit. For Saliya Kumara it was a grand outing winning the Sevens as coach in a short span of time.

Trinity had won the shorter version of the game from 1975 to 1977. In 1975 they were under Rohan Sourjah, and 1976 under S. V. Ranansinghe.

Trinity beat St. Anthony’s 32-14 (quarter finals) and Isipathana 12-5 (semi finals). Royal accounted for the Plate while Science won the Bowl and Moratuwa MV accounted for Shield at the gloomy and rainy Central Hills.

Skipper Reshan Bandarayake, Janidu Ratnayake, Koojana Kulatunge, Amith Kulatunge, Tevin Karunanayake, Tehan Karunanayake and Omar Faizer stood out for the winners.