Recalling Bradby history when first leg winners lost in the return

There have been occasions when the side that wins the first leg has lost the second. Will it be the same story this year too when Royal after suffering a defeat at Pallakele host Trinity in the second leg of the Bradby Shield at Royal Sports Complex on August 5.

The second leg of the Bradby Shield rugby match gives a promise to be an exciting game. This match without argument draws the highest number of spectators during the school rugby season.

In the first leg played on 22nd July a highly motivated and spirited Trinity College team turned the inter-school League rugby tournament on its head by handing Royal College a13-10 defeat. Surprisingly Trinity College played as the better team especially in the second half despite trailing 0-10 at the end of the first half. Trinity never gave up or lost hold of the game at any stage. So in the second leg the team which holds its nerves and plays good rugby will be the winners.

These two schools first played a rugby match in 1920 and in the years 1925 to 1927 and 1929 there were no fixtures. In 1945 the Bradby Shield was presented for this first time and the shield has since played an important role in the lives of Trinitians and Royalists.

The first Bradby game was played at the Race Course ground and Trinity in the first leg were led by Robert Sourjah and Royal by CDL Fernando. Every year it had been a two-game affair apart from the 1971 encounter due to the JVP insurrection in the country. The match is also touted as the oldest and most glamorous domestic rugby event in the island. The Bradby series began historically in 1945 when the Royal side led by CDL Fernando beat Trinity led by Robert Sourjah 3-0 in the first leg and in the second leg Trinity won 6-0. In the following year the same process was repeated when Trinity lost the first leg 3-0 in Kandy and won the return match in Colombo 8-0. In that year, the Trinitians were led by SB Pilapitiya and Royal by Mahesh Rodrigo.

Then in 1962, Royal under UL Kaluarachchi won the first game 5-0 and lost the return game to the Trinitians led by NTE Brohier 9-0.

The writer wishes to go back to the 1958 game, where Royal won after seven years. This game was played at the Nittawela ground and was one of the best school games witnessed that year. It was indeed a rousing game of rugby. The large crowd present was satisfied, though neither Trinity nor Royal won a point. In this game Royal had the edge over Trinity. They had a heavier pack and their back line went in for short, crisp, passes. Their forwards also joined in which made Trinity’s job tougher.

In the first half Royal dominated the game territory-wise and in the second half they had nearly two thirds of it. But during the last ten minutes Trinity attacked vigorously and all but failed to score twice. This made the game an exciting one. G. Vangeyzel and M. Anghie the Royal fly half and fullback relieved pressure by fine kicks to touch and helped to push back the Trinitians by this method. Skipper Ken de Joodt and N. Maralande of Trinity gained welcome breathing spaces for their team by finding touch.

Trinity did well to win a number of scrums against a heavier pack. It was only in the 45th minute that Ken de Joodt with a terrific 40 yard punt brought play into the Royal half. From then Royal had their hands full preventing the Trinitians from going through. The pace was furious. John Penny refereed and Trinity Principal CJ Oorloff presented the Bradby Shield to the Royal skipper Dudley Fernando to be taken to Colombo after seven years. And so their first leg score of 6-0 was enough to help them win the Shield.

The teams: Royal College: G. Vangeyzel, EL (Lorensz) Pereira, GG Samararatne, Tony Rankine, Lal Senaratne, Maurice Anghie, R. Pothuhera, C.de Soysa, Ken Balendra, Lalith de Silva, R. Samarasekara, HS de Silva, Ratna Sivaratnam, Dudley Fernando, R. Fernando.

Trinity College: M. Talwatte, Sena de Silva, P. Buultejns. Ken de Joodt, ARM Azain, Nimal Maralande, Denzil Kobbekaduwa, J. Dias de Singhe, Mike de Alwis, RH Wijenayake, R. Abeyakoon, Eric Roles, R. Hermon, Ken Murray, D. Janaram