Royal-Trinity Blockbuster at the Stadium

Maiden President’s Trophy final between Bradby rivals

By M. Shamil Amit 

Apr.03 (Mirror Sports) - The curtains of the Dialog Schools Rugby Knockout tournament will come down tomorrow (04) with Trinity, the league champions and knockout runners-up of 2025, clashing against arch Bradby Shield rivals Royal in quest for the title to be kicked off tomorrow at the Sugathadasa Stadium from 4.15 p.m. onwards. 

Apart from being Bradby Shield rivals, this will be the first time ever that the two teams will be vying against each other for the schools’ knockout title, and with the two teams evenly balanced, the game is no doubt going to be a blockbuster.

The two captains, Royals’ Disas Pathirana and Trinity’s Shan Althaf, are aging to be the cynosure of all eyes and the supporters of the two sides, and the duo has shown their capabilities in the pre-quarter, quarter-final, and semi-final encounters that they have played. 

The two teams will be coming into the deciding game with confidence. Royal, in the run-up to the final, began their campaign with a comfortable 34-7 win over St. Anthony’s Katugastota, followed by a 25-5 win over S. Thomas’, and then outclassed the Pathanas 30-13 in the semi-final encounter. Trinity, on the other hand, started off with a 38-8 win against Thurstan, followed by wins against Zahira 32-23, and then a convincing 49-29 win against Wesley in the semi-final encounter. 

The two sides possess a host of talented players, with Royal being spearheaded by skipper and No 8 Pathirana, who has in his ranks those whom he can rely on in the likes of prop forwards Raaid Mawsoof and Limitha Amarasinghe, flanker Senuja Ranasinghe, second row pair Nazir Hanifa and Menuka Wickramasinghe, hooker Akira Yatawara, centres Praveen Nimsara and Khiyan de Silva, who had a fine game against Isipathana, fly half Kavinda Hewage, scrum half Savishka Fernando, winger Kevan Ratnayake, and full back Shafeek Mohamed.

Trinity skipper and full back Althaf will bank on centres Sadeesha Weerawansa and Abdul Malik, scrum half Udan Wijekoon, Nishith Kumarasinghe, Hamza Abdeen, Achintha Jayasena, centres and locks Evin Jayasena and Akash Fernando, and skipper Althaf, who for sure is going to be a marked man. Trinity has won the knockout title three times: in 1987, 1993, and 2011 and thereafter were losing finalists to Wesley and Isipathana, while Royal has succeeded in laying their hands twice in 2002 and were joint champions with St. Peter’s in 2010.
 
So with two of the leading rugby playing schools battling for a supremacy it’s not to be easy to predict the final outcome as on previous occasions the clash between them have been close calls and this being their first ever knockout final clash and them gearing up for their prestigious Bradby Shield clash, the two sides will no doubt looking forward to come out victorious to gain the confidence for their future commitments.

However, having witnessed some mouth-watering finishes in the previous matches of the tournament the supporters of the two sides and the rugby followers are guaranteed that they could expect to witness a game of rugby at its best and as mentioned, to predict the final outcome is not going to be an easy task.