Trinity College lost a battle trying to control raging tempers within themselves but surprisingly managed to do well amidst all distractions to beat Royal College 21-10 in the First Leg of the Bradby Shield rugby match played at Reid Avenue on saturday.
The Trinitians were often seen letting out aggression which led to unwanted physical confrontations with the Royalists which resulted in two of their players being handed yellow cards by referee Dilroy Fernando. The Royalists too suffered lapses of concentration and were penalized with one yellow card for unwanted play. “The players were going for the man instead of the ball. I warned both captains a couple of times and managed to control the situation. It was definitely unwanted play,” Fernando told us after the crunch match.
Royal gave Trinity the message that they wouldn’t be bullied into giving up the match easily and responded to the Kandy team’s ferocious style of attacking with a series of similar counter attacks. In fact it was the Royalists who provided the sparks in the first half when they drew first blood with a penalty through Omar Hassen. But Trinity managed to lead 7-3 at half time, thanks to their forwards who steamrolled their way over the line off a maul for hooker Mahendra Wickremasiri to score.
Royal showed a lot of confidence in moving the ball wide and held their nerve to tackle ruthlessly when Trinity went on the offensive. The host team enjoyed five minutes of ecstasy just after the ‘breather’ when they snatched the lead 10-7 through a try by flanker Bilal Hassen.
Trinity cut roads into their opponent’s territory whenever they combined well and Wickremasiri for a moment made Royal’s defence look frail when he shrugged off a series of tackles to fall close to the posts. The ‘Lions’ signalled their comeback into the game with a roar when Krishan Kirinde added the extra points to the try.
Royal tried in earnest to find the match winning try but Trinity finally snuffed the life out of the boys from Reid Avenue when lock forward Sean Wijesinghe barged through for a try when a penalty came Trinity way during injury time.
Trinity won the under 18 matcTh 15-10
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