CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Royal College will be out to make it five wins-in-a-row when they confront traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College in the 60th annual Inter-Schools Under-19 rugby encounter for the Michael Gunaratne Memorial Trophy at Mount Lavinia on Saturday. The kick-off is at 4.00 p.m. after the junior matches.
The lads from Reid Avenue are fresh after a successful ‘A’ Division League Tournament, where they performed creditably to secure the runners-up spot with back-to-back wins in the Super Round segment.
Royal are also looking to add another silverware to their cupboard this season having already clinched the Bradby Shield against Trinity College and the Major Milroy Fernando Memorial Trophy over Isipathana College.
In contrast, the Thomians experienced mixed fortunes and missed out the opportunity of playing in the Super Round as they managed to record only three victories during the first-round of the tournament.
Royal are the holders of the Gunaratne Memorial Trophy since 2017 and they will start favourites once again as they look to extend their dominance in this series, which commenced in 1962.
Last year Royal beat S. Thomas’ 20-8 on their home grounds and overall, Royal lead the series with a total of 35 wins while S. Thomas’ have emerged victorious on 19 occasions with five drawn games in 1962, 1967, 1976, 1978 and 1997 respectively.
S. Thomas’ last won the Gunaratne Memorial Trophy way back in 2016 where they triumphed 21-15 following a last-minute try from Naveen Henakankanamge and after a thrilling contest.
Royal’s biggest win in the series was recorded in 2018 where they trounced their opponents 55-0 under the captaincy of Sabith Feroz while the Thomians had the best performance in 1991 when they ran out winners 22-0 under Charya De Saram.
This game should turn out to be a battle between the forwards even though the spotlight will be on Royal full back Nabil Yehiya and S. Thomas’ fly half Yehan Bulathsinghalage.
Yehiya has made some valuable contributions for his team as a place-kicker especially during the latter stages of the season having accumulated a total of 45 points from eight matches while Bulathsinghalage has been outstanding with his kicks having collected 55 points from six games.
