CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Underdogs Trinity College turned tables on favourites Royal with a magnificent all-round performance to clinch the Bradby Shield first-leg rugby encounter 13-10 at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
Despite starting the game under tremendous pressure, the Trinitians stuck to their task and rattled their opponents with all their points coming in the second half through a goal and two penalties.
Royal, of course, made a great start to the game and were able to take the initiative with an early try but they somewhat lost the momentum in the second half and ended up with two unconverted tries.
Royal made early inroads into the Trinity territory through their forwards and in the ensuing maul they successfully set the three quarters in motion with the dynamic full back Philio Calyaneratne sprinting over to touch down near the corner flag.
Royal went further ahead in the 29th minute when the towering second row forward Buwaneka Senanayake powered his way to touch down from a loose maul.
However, Simak Shafeek could not add the extra points as his attempted conversion was disallowed by the referee for delaying the kick as the visitors went into half time with a 10-0 advantage.
But Trinity were able to produce an improved performance in the second half as they came back storming and shattered the Royal defence with a corner flag try from winger Abidh Jameel in the 38th minute.
The try was later disallowed by the Television Match Official (TMO) as Jameel had not properly grounded the ball resulting in a knock-on in the face of opposition.
Nevertheless, Trinity managed to put their first scores on the board when fly half Shan Altaf fired across a superb penalty from 40 metres out in the 46th minute.
This was some relief for the 15-year-old place-kicker who had a poor first half where he let his team down with three relatively easy penalties.
Royal came under tremendous pressure from there onwards and they conceded several penalties to the opposition while trying to play too much inside their own territory.
There were more setbacks for Royal as their crack forward Buwaneka Senanayake was handed a yellow card at a vital stage following a series of infringements.
Trinity grabbed the opportunity with the extra player on the field and flanker Thisanga Dissanayake barged over to touch down under the post after several unsuccessful drive overs.
Altaf made no mistake with the conversion and two minutes before the final whistle he landed the match winning penalty from 30 metres out as Trinity held on to the last few minutes of play to snatch a memorable victory.
