Royal retain Bradby Shield in bold comeback

Action at Bradby 2nd leg at Royal Sports Complex 

Royal skipper Randul Senanayake had a great outing  

By Shamseer Jaleel

Royal College on Saturday made a bold comeback after a deficit of 3 points in the initial leg not only to win the second leg of the 77th Bradby Shield but to retain Shield at Reid Avenue for a record year.

Royal after leading 17/10 at the short breather completed the win 27/17 courtesy of 5 tries and one conversion while Trinity replied with one penalty goal, 1 try, 1 conversion, 1 penalty. In the end the aggregate was 37/30 favouring Royal. Now the Bradby Shield tally Trinity leading 39 to Royal’s 36 while 2 shield encounter series ending in tie. Trinity last won the Shield under Tharinda Ratwatte in 2014.

This is one of the three famous comeback wins by the Reid Avenue outfit during the last 5 decades. In 1978 under Rohantha Peiris they were held to a nil all draw in the first leg at Longdon Place but came back at Bogambara Stadium to win 8/4 in the second leg. 

The following year under Raba Gunasekera they lost the first leg in Kandy 3/4 but outclassed Trinity 18/0 in the second leg. The last one being in 1998 under Shanaka Perera they lost the first leg 18/20 but outplayed Trinity the second leg in Kandy 42/11.

Trinity drew first blood early in the 2nd minute of the game. Mohamed Althaf missed a kickable 40 meter penalty which landed half way and Royal took it easy in clearing the ball which was snapped up by dashing Trinity winger, Sachindu Wanasekera who touched down under the posts in front of a shell shocked Royal outfit. Althaf added the extras to take a 7/0 lead. But the lead was short lived as Royal skipper, Randul Senanayake who had a grand outing playing as Number 8 brushed aside a few defenders to score a superb forwards try.

Next try, Royal scored off a line out by Thometh Gamage and converted by Thevain Perera to take the lead 12/7. Althaf was on target with a penalty kick but Royal scored their third try through a rolling maul where Trinity did not have an answer. At the short breather the score was 17/10 in favour of the home team.

After the turn around Trinity worked their forwards which ended in a penalty try for them to equalise the scores at 17 apiece. Royal hit back with two more tries by Buwanaka Senanayake and Nabeel Yahya, coming from the bench, proved his prowess when he touched down Royal’s 5th try but sadly it wasn’t converted. Though Royal was down to 13 players still Trinity could not outfox the Reid Avenue defence as their players looked too tired in hot Colombo.

Referee was Gihan Yatawara.

Since Royal 1984 skipper Sampath Agalawatte is no more, the Chief Guest was Feroze Shuhaib from the same outfit. He led the Royal Under-17 outfit in 1982 and later represented the Under-19 team in 1983 and 1984, He also represented the national youth outfit tour to Taipei in the same year.