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| Saturday, 19 July 2003 |
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1995 - when Nuwan kicked Trinity to victory The 1st leg of the 59th Bradby Shield rugby game between Trinity and Royal will take place on Saturday the 19th of July at the Bogambara Stadium. This rugby encounter is one of the most looked forward to battles in the country where old boys of both schools, parents and rugby fans who are not from Trinity and Royal come a long way to witness the match. That is because this game produces good quality rugby and also has a deep-rooted tradition. I have gone for all the Bradby Shield games since 1989 from the day I started schooling at Trinity. My best match was in 1995 when we beat Royalists in the last minute through a penalty by Nuwan Fernando at Bogambara. That year the side was led by dynamic Haris Omar. Trinity took the field as the pre-match favourites and had to struggle hard to win the game by just three points, which came in the minute before the final whistle by Wimal Senanayake. It was certainly Trinity's game as they dominated the forwards play and the line out. But tragedy stuck when, Trinitys usual versatile place kicker though seemingly out of form managed to get only two penalties over the goal of the seven awarded. Royal's defence held resolutely which gave the game its flair of excellence. The Royal fullback Abdulla meanwhile was at hand always to provide crucial relief to thwart the Trinity onslaught to keep the half time score 3 all. That was a penalty each from Nuwan Fernando and Sampath Perera. As usual the game was comparatively clean though it did not dish out the sparkling fare dished out in the history of the series. The first half of the game certainly went to Trinity who certainly dominated forward play and the line out. Suranga Amarasinghe who is now in New Zealand and present Kandy SC second row forward Pradeep Basnayake were always was in the thick of bounding play capitalising on the tireless support of skipper Haris Omar. The second half was a story of Royal being besieged by the Trinitians and the vivid picture was that of the Royal goal line being threatened time and again as resolute Royal defence held on barely. One fault the Trinitians made in this game, their back division kept too close to each other. Nuwan and Rahim continued to fluff penalties for the two schools. Rahim in particular had the chance of putting Royal in the lead. Finally Nuwan nailed Royal's with a last minute penalty. - Minan Marikar |
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