Gunaratne Trophy Rugby encounter Royal-Thomian clash should be a thriller

By M. Shamil Amit
Defending champions Royal College will take on S. Thomas’ College in a key Inter-Schools Under-19 League Rugby Tournament encounter at Mount Lavinia today.

The two schools will battle it out for the Michael Gunaratne Memorial Trophy. 

Royal lead the series with 33 wins while S. Thomas’ have won the trophy on 18 occasions.

Royal will be led by centre Thulaib Hassan. Royal opened their campaign with a massive win against the debutants Maliyadeva College in their first match of the tournament.

S. Thomas’ led by second row forward Harith Senanayake will be coming into this game with a load of confidence after their close 20-19 win against the more fancied St. Peter’s College team in their first match of the tournament.

Royal won the encounter last year with ease (55-0) which incidentally was the highest score in the series.