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Royal totter to glitterless win
Retain Michael Gunaratne Trophy
Royal 18, S. Thomas' 8
By Shamseer Jaleel
Royal playing below their usual form finally beat the Thomians by 18 points (a Goal, a try and two Penalties) to 8 points (1 Try and 1 Penalty) in their Singer "A" division league match played at the Royal Sports Complex Grounds yesterday.

At "Lemons" the winners led 15-3. With this win Royal have won the Michael Gunaratne Trophy for the last 4 years and the tally now reads at 21 to 16.

Royal drew first blood in the very early stages of the game when skipper and dashing winger Laxman Dissanayake brushed aside a few defenders to touch down far right. Shihab Bahudeen was on target with the conversion (7-0). A few minutes later Bahudeen ran through the Thomian defence to score an unconverted try. (12-0). The Sri Lanka national player and Royal Full Shihab Bahudeen then missed two penalties within kicking range in the initial half but was on target with a kick at goal in the 20th miunte (15-0). With the last minute of play in the first half Thomian stand-off Samarasinghe was on target with a penalty kick to reduce the deficit to 15-3 at "Lemons".

In the second half Royal played below form dropping some important passes while on attack.The Thomians who kept attacking through their heavier set of forwards led by pack leader Namal Rajapakse was let down badly by their three quarters who missed two golden try scoring opportunities. Thomians completely dominated the second half in the line outs as well as in the scrums and repeatedly punched holes in the tired Royal defence.

Then the Thomian winger Udugama gave the Mount Lavinia lads with a glimmer of hope when he split opened the Royal defence with a run that bewildered them to score far right to cut the deficit to 15-8. With 5 minutes from the final whistle Royal increased the lead once again courtesy of a Bahudeen penalty to take them to a 18-8 win. Royal will play their last league match next Saturday when they lock horns with Isipathana at the same venue.

IRB referee Dilroy Fernando controlled the game very well.
In the Under 17 game Royal beat S.Thomas’ 27-10

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