Royal Equal Highest Score For The Guneratne Trouphy As Thomian Hoodoo Continues
- match report courtesy of (external link)
Written by Sankha DLT
Saturday, 19 June 2010 21:27

The drought continued for the Thomians as they got beaten by a superior Royal College unit at the Royal College sport complex today. The Thomians coming in to the game as the favourites after an impressive run in the league failed to topple the home team.

It was by far one of the best performances by the Royal College unit together with their performance at the Bradby and the Peters game. The seniors stepped up to the mark and lead the way while the juniors rallied around to give ample support. For the Thomians it was the other extreme as their seniors failed to deliver while their juniors lacked the penetration that of their counterparts. Royal College completely dominated the set pieces with their well drilled pack doing the hard work up front. The home team went on to equalize the highest score in a Guneratne trophy encounter leveling with their 2002 team who won the game 38 points to 03 under the captaincy of Zulki Hameed while the Thomians were lead by Amila Madularachchi.

The first try however was a peach by the Thomians and was initiated by their rock solid number eight Sudharshana Muththuthanthri who broke off a scrum and gave the ball to experienced Shaveen Kapuwatte who swung in a superb inside pass to Vivian Rudra who touched down on the far right. Winger Devin Fernando missed the conversion to give the Thomians the early lead 5-0. Then it was the vice captain of Royal Shehan ‘Lema’ Pathirana who went over to equalize after a series of pick and drives. Fly half Jamaldeen converted to make it 7-0 in their favour. Jamaldeen too had a sweltering game at five eight with his booming up and under’s and his tactical grubber kicks but missed some crucial shots a goal during the match.

Royal College scored again and this time it was winger Dilshan Paliyakkara who touched down after some quick hands by his line members. Conversion missed to make it 12-05 in favour of the home team. Paliyakkara who had an outstanding game together with the rest of the back three went over for his second try of the game. This time it was a clear overlap which was spotted by Shehan Pathirana who ran a good twenty meters and swung a pass to his winger Paliyakkara to score on the far left. Conversion was missed by Jamaldeen and Royal College went in to half time with 17 points on the board to the visitors 05 points.

The second half began and it was yet again Royal who came out swinging against a depleted Thomian outfit. Shehan Pathirana who had an excellent game came out with his second try of the match after a superb break to score with the conversion being slotted in by Jamaldeen to make it 24-05 during the initial stages of the second half.

The Thomians gave in everything but Royal countered them magnificently. Their play makers Anurudda Wilvara, Shaveen Kapuwatte, Jeremy Fernando and Sudharshana Muththuthanthri were marked right from the word go and was not given any sort of room to run the ball. Jeremy Fernando gave in a commendable performance from the full back position but did not get adequate support from the rest of the team. Anurudda Wilvara who mesmerized many teams during the season did not find his feet and was made to look like just a regular player by the rock solid Royal defense. Thomian however barged their way for a try through prop forward Hirusha Jayatilake. Devin Jayasinghe converted to make it 24-12.

Royal College bought their ‘A’ game with some strong performances from some of the players, national youth cap and full back Chamara Dabare had one of his better performances and was arguably one of players of the match for Royal. Royal College was awarded a penalty try when Chamara Dabare was neck tackled on the left hand side corner by Thomian fly half Devin Jayasinghe who was sent off to the sin bin. Jamaldeen added the extra points to make it 31-12. Dabare then scored his second in was arguably the best try of the match. Shehan Pathirana who broke off from the Thomian 22 broke off a couple of defenders before handing the pass out to Mushin Faleel who sent it wide with a number of Royal jerseys exchanging the ball which ended up with Chamara Dabare scoring his second of the evening. Jamaldeen executed a peach of a kick to make it 38-12 which equaled the highest score at a Royal-Thomian. The Thomians tried hard to add some points on the board during the later part of the game but the hard Royal defense kept them at bay.

It was a fitting win for Royal who played the better brand of Rugby which included some customary rolling mauls and pick and drives which the Thomians didn’t have an answer to. Credit should go to the Royal coaches Theo Serefim and Asanga Rodrigo who have done a fantastic job with the side. Royal will meet Trinity in the second leg of the Bradby while the Thomians will confront the Josephians for the Lady Jayatilake trophy.

Video from the game available online - click here (external link)