Bradby box set – EP3

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Four games down and we have five hundred and sixty (560) minutes of footage, to make clear headway and solid form lines to pick from. Trinity seems much like a second half side but were erratic in their loss to St Joseph’s. This was the exact same match up a year ago for the Lions.

Royal, who looked loose in the mud for the last 9 minutes from the week before, really tightened their reins and put together a commanding performance away from home. It was against a sturdy opponent. It wasn’t easy but a solid run in their prep at Nittawella.

Let’s have a run down and piece it all together.

Round three- week 3 March 2019

Trinity lost to St Joseph’s 19-37 (2T,1G1P V 2G,2T,2P) @ AWAY

Keynotes and stats

-TCK concede a 20-7 lead at half time
-TCK kicking in defense and out of hand: 5 of 7 directly to the hand of opponents
-TCK goal kicking accuracy: 2 of 3 @ 66% off the conversion tee
-TCK concede 5 tries and are on an av PA (Points Against) 21.3 (3+ scores)
-Geeshapa Kulathunge’s try sends him to the top as season’s (joint) highest with 5 tries
-VIDEO watch analysis: TCK defensive and attacking kick returns and touch finders.

This was a game where the KANDURATA TCK was very flat for some periods of time with sparks of brilliance in and amongst it. They are now showing a trend of being slow starters, absorbing about 60% of strikes off set plays to stay within a touching distance.

That said, they missed almost 40% of their attempted tackles in the first half.

SJC was another genuine top-rated team who exploited their kick returns in play, scoring 4 of 5 tries from broken, counter-attacking plays. This is a trending pattern where Pathana and now Joes have scored against them. A direct correlation to TCK’s missed tackles.

Scoring points against top-rated opposition is very much a second-half pattern for this team. It is almost as if they enjoy chasing the scoreboard by looking to bridge the gap. Unfortunately, at 20-7, they drifted to a further 7-32. Closing it to 19-32. That’s as good as it got after a period of sustained pressure only to cop a yellow card.

That effectively killed it as a contest and gave up another fifth try to crash to a 19-37 loss. Notably needing 3 scores to get ahead.

Tactical subs: Their replacements were largely unnoticed, against an effective Josephian cross kick and chasing game. Subasinghe is starting to establish himself as the preferred 1st 5-8s. His grubbers are eye-catching.

Expert tips: Expecting to see the 6”4 Rahul Dhanraj play a more dominant role as they back up against Science College @ Pallekelle. It may be a more controlled, ruck-recycle based game. They will want to start a lot better. Leading for a change as opposed to slipping behind… is this the week we see Lennox Calyanarathne?.

Watch LIVE: Trinity College vs Science College – Match #26

Royal beat Kingswood 20-12 (2T,1G,1P) V (4P) @ Away

Keynotes and stats:

-RC give up 15 penalties inside 70 minutes, however, concede 0 tries
-RC concede 12 points, 4 of 6 successfully converted penalties by KCK
-RC put 31 phases inside the last 90 seconds to close out the game with 14 men.
-RC commit 4 errors in 4 minutes between the 58th and 62nd minute
-The driving, fishtail maul strikes with 2 of 3 tries resulting from it (lead up)
-Kevin Samarasekara continues his outstanding form: try-saver, hold up in goal @ 55:30
-VIDEO Watch analysis: Royals goal kicking and tactical kicking– poor formline.

In my #straightup preview, I called this a “tricky assignment” for the ARINMA Royal 1st XV. It certainly proved to be. Kingswood for large periods was all over Royal with dominant possession. 72%–in fact. However, Royal’s defensive line and KCK’s inability to crack the code on how to breach Royal let them down badly. By and large, this was a very “old school” scrap where both teams ran into plenty of traffic jams.

An alarming stat was Royal’s indiscipline. They conceded, on ave.1 penalty every 4.66 minutes and made 5 very uncharacteristic unforced errors, straight knock-ons when carrying the ball for setting up a ruck. Perhaps, conceding penalties under pressure in zones where they are comfortable to concede may be seen as tactical? 3 is 4 lesser than 7. Eventually, it did work out for them.

Knock ons: This was largely looking to offload where they had a three-man “pod”. The usual pattern of carting it up with the first receiver, where opponents know what’s coming but they can do very little to disrupt it.

Defensively, Royal was excellent. Making 31 tackles in the mid-period (10 minutes either side of half time). This is a sign of a well-coached and organized team. Their ability to make a tackle and get back on their feet to ensure 15 men are standing as opposed to 14 or less has been the difference. This stays true going back 2 seasons, year on year. A very evident video watch pattern.

Read More: Five footnotes from week four

A musical chairs version of goalkickers, 3, in fact, were used but it is largely injury-enforced and Dulan Gunawardena will be back to full duties off the tee.

Tactical subs: As usual a good bench strength on display with their forward pack. Personified by their closing of the game where it was a 90-second ruck-recycle-a-thon. It oozed class. Furthermore, halfback and utility back– Migara Mihisanka is quite the multi-tasker, starting off on the wing and allowing for Yasojana to inject a rabbit like pace as a starting 9. This is something I am really looking forward to seeing when I call both Bradby’s from the commentary box.

Expert tips: Forwards running like backs to join a well-structured attacking pattern from their key, strike zones. The stats are very evident on where they are. If and when Royal hang on to 80% of the ball and commit less than a 20% error rate– They win by plenty.

I am expecting a high scoring game this weekend. Moreover, this to be the weekend Royal flex their muscles against a top rating opposition.

Points table head to head after week 4: 4 from 4

TEAM FORM Tries Con Pen DG CON% PF PA + /- Ave PPG
ROYAL WWWW 20 10 1 50.0% 123 47 76 30.75
TRINITY WLWL 16 4 1 25.0% 91 85 6 22.75

Stats by stats_pert  ([email protected])

Rewind 365: 2018 SSL week 4

Royal beat St Joseph’s 18-13 @ Away V Trinity beat St Thomas 34-24 @ Home

#straightup #stats_pert

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