Commemorating the 60th year of the invincible Trinity XV of 1956
The golden era of Rugby in Trinity has been from 1952-1957 when the College won all twelve Bradby matches in-a-row played during the period. 94 points had been scored by Trinity as against 19 points by Royal. Of the 94 points, 26 points had been scored in 1956. Norman S. Walter was the Principal of the College, during this era, except for 1957. Harry Hardy, father-in-law of crack inside three quarter Kavan Rambukwella (Lion 1951) , was the coach and master-in-charge up to 1955. In 1956, Dr. K.B.Sangakkara was appointed coach and the young graduate just out of the University, double Lionsman (Rugby and Hockey) and great tactician and motivator Bertie Dias, was appointed the master-in-charge.
The team was fortunate to have had nine players of 1955 five of them coloursmen who were available for the 1956 season. Here I quote from page 226 of the centenary issue of the College magazine. “If not a a very close parallel to our cricket record of 1920s is our Rugger record of the 1950s, when between 1952 and 1957, for six years we won every game that we played and most of them by record margins. Perhaps the best team ever was the 1956 side that produced nine all Ceylon players and two Captains.” The two captains were Nimal Maralande the stand off and Michael de Alwis – hooker.
David Frank was chosen for the Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) team just as he left school but migrated to Australia the next year. The others who won the national caps were R.T. de Sylva with his brother Sena, Franklin Jacob, Ken de Joodt, and Gamini Weerasinghe. There would have been Rodney Frank, Lion of 1957, and Vernon Boteju, who had won the Athletics Lion after breaking the 440 yards public schools record, if they had not migrated and a knee injury of Willhem Balthazar precluded him from playing Rugby. The record of this XV was that right through the season not only playing with schools but also CR&FC, Havelocks, Kandy and Uva the line was never crossed. No other team of Trinity could boast of such a record. The team is as follows;
CS – Combined Schools player of 1956
I can recall that individual practices commenced in early April, without any compulsion or even a request from the College authorities. I recall, Ken de Joodt practicing the goal kicking for about two hours each day with two bamboos and a coir string drawn across with the Mahaiyawa boys collecting the ball. On another side Michael de Alwis would be practicing hooking. That was the individual commitment.
There were five inter collegiate matches played
S.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. Played at Bogambara
News papers reported “Trinity trounced S. Thomas by 26 points (4 goals, try and penalty to 3 Penalty).” Tries were scored by Ettipola (2) David Frank, Franklin Jacob and Boteju, Odayar converted four tries and put over a penalty. Cader put over a penalty for S. Thomas’ College.
St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya played at Bogambara
News paper extract states.“Trinity routed St. Peters by 42 points (six goals and four tries) to nil. The try scores were Ettipola (2) David Frank (3) Balthazar (2) Maralande, Weerasinghe and Jacob. De Joodt converted six tries. Trinity’s speed and excellent team work enabled them to dominate the game ”