The 1st leg of the much awaited Bradby Shield encounter between Trinity College Kandy and Royal College Colombo will grace the Royal complex on the 30th of April.
This fixture will also serve as a tournament match in the ongoing U19 Division 1A League Championship. Trinity will host the 2nd leg at the Pallekele Rugby Stadium on the 14th of May.
The Island’s oldest and definitely most glamorous rugby encounter, blue ribbon of the Sri Lankan rugby calendar the ‘Bradby Shield’ 1st leg will invade the streets of Colombo this coming weekend. The much bandied claim of the ‘Bradby Shield’ encounter being the oldest schools’ rugby fixture in the world is misguided as the honour actually belongs to the Edinburgh Academy and Merchiston Castle School in Scotland who claimed to have played against each other uninterruptedly since 1857 including alternating home and away legs. This by no means diminishes the value and the importance of this magnificent encounter thanks to the brave young men who have donned the red, gold & blue stripes and blue and & yellow stripes with pride year after year. These warriors are empowered by the ever increasing stake holders of this game who delight in being part of this annual spectacle, be it as school boys, alumni, parents or the sports loving public of the Island.
The first historic game of rugby between these two esteemed institutions was played in 1920 and was continued as an annual encounter. Trinity dominated the early years making Royal wait 21 years for their first victory in 1941. In the year 1945 the Principal of Royal College at the time Mr. E L Bradby brought forth the idea of playing an annual two legged series which was warmly received by the principal of Trinity College at the time Mr C.E Simithraarachy. Mr E L Bradby offered a shield which was to be held by the victors for a period of one year and the series has been played annually and uninterrupted ever since.
The first Bradby Shield game was played at the Racecourse grounds. Royal were led by C.D.L. Fernando and Trinity by Robert Sourjah. The ‘first leg’ was played in Colombo and the Royalists were the winners 3-0 (one try). The ‘second-leg’ was played at Bogambara where Trinity led by S.B. Pilapitya came out on top, beating Royal by 6-0 (two tries). With this win, the Trinitians managed to win the shield in the inaugural year, on the basis of aggregate.
Trinity lead Royal in the overall tally of the encounter having won 39 times to Royal’s 31 with one encounter ending as a draw in the past seven decades. History of this great encounter is strewn with memories and mental images of noble sportsmanship. While simple acts such as a rival supporter being silent when a kick is lined up are unfortunately slowly making its way out of the game, despite the game reaching a different level of competitiveness, both players and spectators still strive to keep the age old traditions that make this encounter truly remarkable and one of a kind.
In the current season Royal, captained by Nikila Gunadeera (the driving force at the back of the scrum), has played 04 games so far having managed two victories. They went down in the last minute to a revived Thomian team and came back from behind to draw the game against St. Joseph’s. Royal would have ideally preferred a victory under their belts leading up to the Bradby but would be happy that the team showed great spirit fighting back to draw a game which looked like it would end as a famous Josephian victory.
Trinity have also played 04 games so far this season, led by the lanky lock Rahul Karunathilake, they’ve managed to win their first three games but were unfortunate to lose their fourth game to S. Thomas’ leading up to the first leg.
In their last game they led 15-3 ten minutes into the second half but a second yellow and a red card to the skipper and another yellow card to a forward reduced Trinity to 13 men; a situation which the Thomians exploited to score three tries and beat the Lions in their own backyard. In the subsequent inquiry held regarding Trinity Skipper Karunathilake’s red card, the disciplinary committee comprising of members of the schools’ governing body had decided to suspend Rahul for one match. This will be a crucial factor going into the first leg of this all important battle as the Trinity skipper has been leading the team from the front with his most notable contributions coming in at the base of the breakdowns.
As always Royal’s strongest suit has been their set of forwards and the infamous rolling maul which many teams have struggled to counter. Out of the 14 tries that have been scored for Royal so far this season over 8 tries have been scored through their forwards. Royal will be tested at the back as Trinity has a good set of backs that are versatile in their attack. Royal is coached by Sanath Martis for the second consecutive year.
Trinity has a balanced side with the forwards and the backs complimenting each other. This Trinity team tends to prefer fast paced, open rugby where they look to use the width of the pitch with quick off loads and they have some good strong runners that have managed to penetrate opposition; their main challenge will be to counter the dynamic set of forwards that Royal possess. Trinity Coach Eric Miller, who is a former Irish and British & Irish Lions flanker, must have come up with a plan to counter the infamous maul.
With two balanced sides and not much to set the teams apart it’s all to play for in the 72nd Bradby Shield and it will come down to which team will have better composure. During the past decades the team who has won the first leg in Colombo have gone on to win the Bradby with the exception of 1992 & 1998. Both teams will look to have a moral boosting win under their belts when they travel to the hill capital for the 2nd leg of the Bradby shield.
Should your commitments keep you away from Reid Avenue this weekend, you can rely on www.ThePapare.com to bring you live action as it happens.
