Somehow, as a Thomian, I had a bad feeling about the game going in. Warden Billimoria’s taciturn face at the team introductions was gloomier than the weather. Almost like he had a premonition of what was to come. It was not for the faint hearted. 

Taking a four cushion into the second leg of the 26th annual RL Hayman encounter, thanks to their 4 goal lead Saturday last, S.Thomas’ could have been excused for being a little relaxed. Despite looking chilled out at the warm-up though they seemed to clam up as soon as Royal scored their first goal when Shamod Edirisinghe smashed a long-range shot home to cancel out Kahandawala’s early penalty.

The penalty in the first thirty seconds of the game, seemed to lull the Thomians into a false sense of security. Kahandawala’s 6th goal seemed to suggest more of the same from the Thomian’s prolific goal scorer in the first leg. However, it would be the first and last goal he scored in the match, being completely marked out of the game by a well prepared Royal. Deprived of their goal machine, S. Thomas’ seemed to come apart at both ends of the pool. Having relied heavily on individual performances in the previous four years, namely from custodian Kosala Wijewardena, former skipper Deelaka Weeraratne and last year’s 9 goal blitz from Sachitha Jayathilaka, the Thomians suddenly seemed unable to find goals from elsewhere in the pool.

After going behind and slipping to 5 goal deficit on aggregate, Royal threw the kitchen sink in the form of a couple of long range bullets from Shamod Edirisinghe whose early hat trick gave the Royalists a sniff. The massive margin prompted the Royal coaching staff of Hassen and Kankanige to play a man up so that Royal could score on the break. This forced S. Thomas’ to play a defender deep in their half, meaning their attack comprised only five players. Unfortunately, this duty was entrusted to skipper Shakya Gunatillake, without whom the Thomian attack looked a little rudderless. Their heads fell further when Gunatillake made his way onto the 2m line only to have a flawlessly executed goal disallowed by the game clock. This seemed to set S. Thomas’ back and Royal rode their luck fearlessly in the second and third quarters.

Royal skipper Basith Yakoob switched between playing on the right bar and the point position and made two telling contributions with his left hand to take Royal to the brink of victory. In between Sawinda Dissanayake with some excellent centre forward play and Isiwarana de Silva with some opportunism had pulled Royal out of the darkness and into the position of firm favourites to take the match and the tie. They peppered Dilith Kumarasinghe in the Thomian goal, who was helpless with Gunatillake suffering three exclusions and his defence outswum by a determined Royal.

A timely strike from Ebenezer and a scrambled own goal kept S. Thomas’ in the tie, but firmly out of the game. At 10 – 5 in the final quarter and the momentum all with Royal the blue and gold crowd was in fine voice, opposite a stunned Thomian contingent. While STC were fading fast, the Royalists seemed to gather strength in the final quarter. Kumarasinghe, uncharacteristically beaten ten times in the game, managed to find a good long pass to Wickramaratne who was left open in the middle of the pool. One of the stronger swimmers in the Thomian team he swam it up to the 5m while his prop struggled to get out of the way. With a defender closing him down and his options limited, the Wickramaratne lobbed over the head of Hettiarachchi in the Royal goal with the ice-cool precision of a trained assassin. For an inexperienced player it was a commendable piece of thinking under extreme pressure. Royal’s willingness to go forward to the end had exposed them ever so momentarily and the Thomians salvaged a draw in probably the most memorable encounter on record yet.

Only once have a team comeback from a deficit to win the Hayman. That was Shan Laksitha’s Royal team in 2012. Those heroics were not to be repeated, and by virtue of their recent dominance, the Thomians kept the trophy for a fifth consecutive year.

It was a tactica masterclass from Royal who forced the influential Gunatillake out of the game with their ‘man-up’ tactics. They also allowed the Thomians to attack up the right flank by dropping a defender onto the left post to assist their goal-keeper. The Thomians couldn’t find a way through that double door and were frustrated for large parts of the game without being able to switch the ball back to the point or the opposite wing. It was street smart play by Royal and the Thomians needed to adapt faster than they did. Credit though to both sets of coaches who gave the crowd a stunning display of technical, proficient, uncontroversial but exciting waterpolo.

Having been part of the Hayman for 23 of its 26 years as a player, referee and now commentator, this was without a doubt the best match the series has seen. Yakoob and his team deserve every accolade, as to Gunatillake and his scrappers who didn’t give up until the literally the last few seconds. It is this sort of performance that makes Royal-Thomian rivalry what it is.