All set for the 31st Royal-Thomian Water Polo matches

31st Dr. R.L Hayman Trophy Water Polo Matches

By
Muaad Razick
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31st Dr. R.L Hayman Trophy Water Polo Matches

The Sugathadasa Swimming Pool is set to rock and roll this Saturday (28) as the most attended Waterpolo encounter in Sri Lanka – The Royal-Thomian Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy will see its 31st edition played at 5 p.m. Saturday’s game is the 1st leg of this great rivalry dating back to 1992. The 2nd leg will be played on the 5th of October at the same venue.

This prestigious encounter is named after Dr. R.L. Hayman – the donor of the trophy, a former Sub-Warden of S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia in 1935, who also gifted the original swimming pool of STC – from its inception in 1992, the Thomians had complete dominance in the first decade with Royal College’s first win in the series coming in 2005. Last year STC retained the trophy in dramatic fashion after losing the 1st leg 10-15 and staged a valiant comeback in the 2nd leg to win 11-6 thus ending in a 21 all draw.

At the inaugural Hayman Trophy in 1992 Nethru Nanayakkara led Royal with Jeewaka Perera’s Thomians winning 6-1, 6-2.

You can catch the live action of this year’s game from wherever you are in the world starting from 3.30 p.m. (SL Time) on all platforms of Sri Lanka’s Number 1 sport’s hub ThePapare.

STC lead the overall Hayman Trophy tally with 17 wins; Royal have 9 wins and 4 encounters ended in draws.

2024 Captains U19

Royal College – Mihin Wanigasekara

S.Thomas’ College – Talib Mansoor

2024 Captains U15

Royal College – Ramiru Aluthge

S.Thomas’ College – Dinuk Wickramasinghe

Royal’s longest winning streak was 5-in-a-row from 2005-2009 with S. Thomas’ 7-in-a-row streak from 1992-1998 is yet to be broken. And the Thomians have a 13-year unbeaten streak from 1992-2004. The first draw of the series was recorded in 1999 in a low scoring affair (1st leg: 2-2, 2nd leg: 1-1), that year Pratheesh Seevaratnam led Royal while Hejaaz Hizbullah led the Thomians.

What happened last year (2023)?

Under-19 – Hayman Trophy

In one of the most entertaining Hayman Trophy comebacks, S. Thomas’ clinched the 2nd leg of the 30th edition, beating Royal 11-6 and retained the trophy safely at the school by the sea. Thora lost the 1st leg 15-10 to a valiant Royal outfit, who came in as clear underdogs after a 20-point record-break thrashing in 2022.

1st leg: RC 15-10 STC

2nd leg: STC 11-6 RC

Aggregate: 21-21 draw (STC retained)

Under-15 (2023)

Royal College took home the ‘Mahinda Liyanage Trophy’ with an overall aggregate of 49-26 and a win margin of a mammoth 23 points. This was the highest recorded score since the beginning of the U-15 encounter in 1998.

Royal almost reached the highest win margin in the series of 24 goals in 2019, where STC won 2-17 and 2-13 under Yumal Bollegala. The U-15 game is named and played in honour of Mahinda Liyanage, former coach of STC from 1993-1997.

1st leg: RC 25-13 STC

2nd leg: RC 24-13 STC

Aggregate:  RC 49-26 STC (Royal Victory)

Under-13 (2023)

For the first time in history the Under 13 game was held in 2023 and Royal College clinched the ‘Royal-Thomian Trophy’.

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