Royal hold the edge in 71st Bradby

The Royal rugby squad

The Trinity rugby squad

By Shamseer Jaleel 

The unbeaten Royal College, led by Banuka Gamage, and Trinity College, captained by Isuru Rangala, will step out onto the field in the second leg of the 71st Bradby Shield encounter, on 23 May at the Royal Sports Complex at 4.30 p.m. 

Although this will essentially be a friendly encounter there will be nothing friendly about proceedings out in the middle as both sides will go flat out to grab the prestigious trophy. Trinity have been the holders of the Bradby Shield for the last four years and will be under pressure to keep it in Kandy. Despite Royal possessing a first leg lead, in the history of the Bradby there have been several teams that have launched comeback victories. 

The Trinitians will have to find an answer to Royal’s forwards’ play and come up with a way to stop them and do better with set pieces and line-outs. Trinity will do well to have the forwards keep it tight and send the ball out fast to the fly-half. Rangala will need to get his options correct when the penalty kicks are offered. When taking distance kicks he should opt to go with Saranga Gunatilake and with shorter kicks he should use his fly half Thusila Perera. On the other hand, Royal’s forwards are playing exceptionally but failed to score on a single occasion during the first leg. They need to be careful with their long passes instead of presenting Trinity with interception and try-scoring opportunities.

Trinity is ahead in the Bradby tally with 39 wins to Royal’s 30, with one fixture ending in a tie in 1992. The Bradby was on offer for the first time in 1945. Prior to their first leg Bradby loss, Trinity won all their Singer league Division I matches, beating Dharmaraja (50-37), the Katugastota Antonians (49-13), the Thomians (40-15) and Science College (22-17). 

Royal opened their season against St. Anthony’s College Katugastota, winning 38-10 before going on to record victories against Science College (37-22), Dharmaraja (17-3) and S. Thomas’ College (52-0). They remained unbeaten so far defeating Trinity in the first leg 23/22.

Trinity will depend heavily on skipper Rangala, who occupies the Number 8 position. He is well supported by Rukshan Dhammapala, who will start as a flanker after playing as Number 8 in the first four matches of the season. Trinity will also depend on centre Sachintha Dissanayake for his powerful sprints and Saranga Gunatilake, with his touch and place kicks, who remains the highest scorer for any team in the Singer league to date. 

Trinity is coached by former Ireland player Eric Miller, who is aided by two Old Boys, Thushitha De Silva (three quarters) and Pradeep Basnayake (forwards).

Royal will depend heavily on their classy Number 8 Supun Warnakulasuriya being outstanding in both attack and defence. Flanker KeshanPeries, winger Shabith Feroze and skipper Banuka Gamage are the rest of the players who have made an impact for the Reid Avenue School this season. They are coached by former Isipathana and CR&FC player Sanath Martis, who is a master administrator who has handled the Sri Lanka Youth team on previous occasions as well. 

Trinity - Isuru Rangala (Capt.), Sachintha Dissanayake, Saranga Gunathilake, Nethmal Sakalasooriya, Ryan Weerakoon, Nethan Lee, Direndra Ratwatte, Rahul Karunathilake, Rajith Samarasekera, Thusila Perera, Sanushka Abeywickrema, Shalindra Alahakoon, Ghazali Ismail, Kanchana Wimalasiri, Shaveen Ekanayake, Rishen Madena, Pasan Samarawickrema, Rukshan Dhammapala, Anuka Boyagoda, Dhirendra Ratwatte, Isuru Ratnayake, Dave Dias, Geshan Pethiyagoda, Ayesha Edirisinghe, Naveen Davadason, Sahveen Ekanayake, Rashen Bandaranayake, Rishane Madena, Melan Maliesh, Pasan Samarawickrema, Sanajana Sanagasinghe, Saranga Gunathilake, Shemal Wijewardena, James Peiris, Salindra Alahakoon, Shadi Deane, Lashan Wijesuriya, Pubudu Amunuthuduwa, Keshan Palayangoda, Rajith Samarawickrema, Diluksha Dange and Aveesha Piyankara.

Royal - Banuka  Gamage (Capt), Keshan Peiris, Akasha Iddewela, Chandula Jayasundera, Supun Warnakulasuriya, Gayal Jayasinghe, Shawket Lahir, Ashok Vijayakumar, Umesha Madushan, Nikila Gunadheera, Gavesha Yapa, Harith Lokugamage, Ayesha Maduranga, Oven Askey, Shabith Feroze, Andrew de Silva, Sachin Gamage, Vinith Gunawardena, Ayendra Subasinghe, Aerosha Elikewela, Ishfaaq Nazeer, Pasindu Amarasinghe, Tahiru Gunasekera, Mohamed Nabeel, Sasitha Siyath and Bhanuka Ratnayake

​

Leading referee Aruna Rankothge will officiate this encounter. Dinka Peris, who did a remarkable job as the referee in the first leg will run touch along with Sarath Madugalle.

Trinity hold the edge in the Under 18 encounter, played for the Simithrarachchi Trophy, after securing an 18-point lead in the first leg. The Lions are led by Pubudu Fernando with former double international Pradeep Basnayake coaching the outfit.