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| In the first leg Trinity could not match up in their own backyard, can they come back this time? (Pic Sanka Vidanagama) |
The second leg of the 65th Shield encounter will be held next Saturday at the Royal Sports Complex at Reid Avenue. The kick off is scheduled for 4.30pm.
Royal won the first leg in Kandy and go in to this match with a ten point cushion – a minimum of two scores.
Thus it would only a die hard Trinitian who would expect his team stage a comeback. But stranger things have happened, miracles do take place and sometimes the form book goes out of the window when it comes to the Bradby.
Trinity Captain Vishwajith Wijesinghe and his men are likely to lay their bodies on the line. Trinity’s chances of winning the league trophy, is only a mathematical possibility at best and this is their one chance they have of getting some silverware. But they are up against an inform Royal side who rested a number of players in their match against Dharmaraja played on Friday.
Trinity has two problems which were evident in their match against St. Peter’s and which they failed to address in the first leg against Royal. Their first time tackle ratio is less than 50 per cent and when attacking they tend to rely too much on left wing three quarter Kenyon Armstrong.
Royal coached by New Zealander Theo Serafie who was in charge of the Thomians two years ago executed their game plan to near perfection. They doubled teamed Armstrong senior (his brother Shannon who plays at Number 8), thus neutralizing Trinity’s most potent threat.
Led by fly half Naren Dhason, Royal are proving to be unbeatable and are also in the running for the league plum. If any criticism can be leveled against Royal, it is that they have to minimize the number of their unforced errors. In addition Royal would do well to use the line a bit more than they did the first leg. True the Royal ‘eight’ got the job done. But it is obvious that Trinity would come up with a plan to counter Royal’s forwards. Trinity would also have worked on not throwing away possession from the line outs and break down situations. Royal will fancy their chances given Trinity’s two performances in Colombo – they were beaten by S, Thomas’ and nearly blew a 33 points to 7 lead against St. Peter’s eventually emerging victorious by 43 points to 33.
Given that the Bradby is one of the biggest sporting and social events of the year, the Royal College Sports Complex will be packed tighter than a private bus at peak time and both teams do play attractive rugby, thus a thrilling match is on the cards.
Royal from : Naren Dhason (Captain) Nikira Senanayake, Shameer Fajudeen, Ashen Dassanayake, Udara De Silva, Yudith Karunaratne, Adhil Jabbar, Udara Gihan, Kalana Amarasinghe, Ranga Perera, Nabeel Jalaldeen, P. Vishitha, L. Lakshantha, D. Dangedera, Shehan Pathirana, Hamza Hassen, Chilanka Sudaraka, Shehan Dassanayake, Zubair Hussain, Hasthika Bandaranayake, Aquil Ahmed, Mushin Faleel, Shehan Seneviratne, Ishan Salih, Nabeer Faizer, Ranitha Chandraratne, Chamara Dabare, Dilshan Palihakkara, C. Fazil, Shabeer Mohamed, Shailendra Chandraratne, Mushin Faleel.
Trinity from : Visvajith Wijesinghe (Captain), Adeeb Hameed, Lasantha Samarasekera, Kenon Armstrong, Idris Omar, M. Umananthan, Sunendra Alwis, Shazhil Kitchilan, Mohamed Ishan, Shanon Armstrong, Damith Dissanayake, B. Dushanthan, Akila Dissanayake, Kanchana Ramanayake, Deshan Aluvihare, Gotabaya Mahesh, Murad Ramzeen, Rehan Weerakoon, M. Umananthan, Chaturanga Wijesinghe, Choliya Bandara, Rukmal Dodantenne, Rameera Seneviratne, Onila Senaratne, Lashen Jayasinghe, Praveen Thinamani, Randika Nanayakkara, Rahal Balasooriya, Anurada Amarakoon, Arun Prakash, S. Bandara, D. Nayakeraten. |
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