Royal are favourites to retain the Bradby Shield for a record fifth consecutive year but are wary of a backlash from Trinity when they clash in the second leg of the 75th edition of the series at Royal Sports Complex this evening. Kick-off is at 4.00 p.m.
Trinity are still smarting from the crushing 34-17 defeat they suffered at Pallekelle a fortnight ago and still licking their wounds after the 32-7 thrashing handed by St. Peter’s in Bambalapitiya last week.
However, the high-riding Royalists are not willing to let complacency set in despite enjoying a 17-point cushion, having forced to pull out all stops against Science College last week before recording a come-from-behind 41-20 victory.
“In the modern game, 17 points is actually nothing. We have to start afresh and play a fresh game because we can’t rely on the 17 points,” stressed Royal’s head coach Dushantha Lewke who is on the cusp on leading his charges to glory in this epoch-making encounter.
Royal have showed plenty of character and fighting qualities being unfazed when Trinity drew first blood in both halves during the first leg up in Kandy. Their pack spearheaded by tireless workhorse Fadhil Adahan stuck to their task of phasing out attacks and giving good ball for the backs to exploit.
“I have a young set of boys. We have quite a lot of newcomers in the first XV set-up. I think they have adapted well because in the first XV set-up, the competition is very high. It is not like the time when we played. Now the current league is at a very high level. Every week is a tough game for the boys,” said Lewke, a former Sri Lanka captain who has named 28 players for the match.
“Royal and Trinity have this understanding because the second leg is a friendly game, any last year players who don’t make it to the side, we give them an opportunity to be on the bench because it is a life achievement to be part of the Bradby team,” said Lewke, who has retained faith in the same starting line-up as the first leg.
Centre Lehaan Gunaratne was rested last week while half back Nipuna Yasojana, the playmaker of the side, is also fully fit. “We managed to rest and recover them for this week. Yasojana played the second half last week. We brought him off the bench,” said Lewke who was proud of the attacking potential of the backs.
“I don’t think we have a bad set of backs. We wanted to give an opportunity for them to express themselves,” he said on their successful ploy to explore chinks in Trinity’s defence after their forwards attacked in waves. Skipper and centre Thulaib Hassen marshalled his side superbly, crashing over the line once and assisting his co-centre Gunaratne to score one of his two tries. Full back Dulan Gunawardena was rock solid in defence though the same cannot be said of fly-half Kalindu Nandila’s line kicking.
Trinity have made a few changes in their starting line-up from the first leg leaving out Mecan Yaswanth, Lenox Calyanarathne, Miranga Subasinghe and Geeshaba Kulathunga. It could be an ominous sign in their bid to upset Royal’s battle plans.
Head coach Inthi Marikar is unable to fathom what happened against the Peterites last week describing it as probably his “worst game” in charge.
“Bradby ofcourse for 15 minutes we let go and we lost. I don’t know what happened last Saturday. It was probably the worst game I have ever handled. I don’t think even a club team or national team has lost so badly,” said Marikar, a former Sri Lanka coach and High Performance Director of Sri Lanka Rugby.
“We have to come back from it. Royal is a top side and we are underdogs. We will see how best we can try to upset. Definitely we will come hard,” said Marikar, a dashing winger during his playing days.
“We have to sustain what we did that day (June 1). We started off very well. In the middle part of the game and beginning of second half, we played very well. It’s just a matter of whether we can last 70 minutes,” said Marikar who has unleashed new legs in the starting line-up to give fresh impetus to the side. Apart from centre Harsha Amarasinghe who scored a magical try, the backs have failed to dazzle though skipper and full back Reshan Bandaranayake has been a tower of strength in defence.
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Royal team: 1. Adithya Weerasuriya 2. Rajindu Jayasuriya 3. Radesh Wijerathna 4. Samadhi Induwara 5. Fadhil Adahan 6. Achitha Radeeshan 7. Kevin Samarasekera 8. Lahiru Thilakarathna 9. Nipuna Yasojana 10. Kalindu Nandila 11. Migara Mihisanka 12. Thulaib Hassen (captain) 13. Lehaan Gunaratne 14. Yasis Rashmika 15. Dulan Gunawardena
Substitutes: 16. Dilshan Jayah 17. Mohammed Al Nawran 18. Induwara Illukpitiya 19. Vehan Manthila 20. Abdulla Hamza 21. Janendra Nanayakkara 22. Raveen Shenuka 23. Maleesha Perera 24. Abdul Rahuman 25. Avishka Kelegama 26. Avin George 27. Madush 28. Mayantha
Trinity team: 1. Nimesh Ekanayake 2. Neranjan Vitharana 3. Mahadi Abdulla 4. Umer Ismail 5. Chethiya Pananwala 6. Dulanjith Nethwara 7. Direndra Ratwatte 8. Thidas Thanthirige 9. Tehan Karunanayake 10. Minidu Jayasundara 11. Amith Kulathunge 12. Tevin Karunanayake 13. Harsha Samarasighne 14. Janidu Ratnayake 15. Reshan Bandaranayake (captain)
Substitutes: 16. Shaykya Senanayake 17. Damien Tennakoon 18. Saliya Damunupola 19. Mecan Yaswanth 20. Lenox Calyanarathne 21. Zaiyed Faisal 22. Koojana Kulathunga 23. Miranga Subasinghe 24. Shayam Robinson 25. Geeshaba Kulathunga
Referee: Ishanka Abeykoon
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