S.Thomas’ College were unable to live up to their Rs.1000 ticket prices as Royal went on a demolition derby to retain the Michael Gunaratne trophy 52 (8T 6C) – 00.
In doing so Royal broke the previous Michael Gunaratne Trophy record for the highest points margin set by the Reid Avenue side led by Zulki Hameed. The match was billed as a battle between the two sets of packs but Royal showed they were miles above their rivals with clinical rugby and skipper Bhanuka Gamage and Supun Warnakulasuriya scoring a hat-trick each.
Royal looked a different side that faced Dharmaraja before the Avurudu break and S.Thomas’ had in fact gone backwards after their gritty second half performance against Trinity. Royal scored inside the opening 10 minutes from a sweeping move which saw skipper Bhanuka Gamage go over the whitewash near the right corner. Ovin Askey failed to convert his try. (00-05)
Royal lost their influential No8 Supun Warnakulasuriya through injury in the lead-up to that try but they never seemed to skip a beat as the visitors turned over the ball midfield and swung it wide to Feroze who jinxed his way to a diving try on the left corner. From a difficult angle Askey just managed to put the ball over the crossbar. (00-12)
On the half an hour mark Bhanuka added his second and his team’s third after a few phases from a 5meter quick tap. Askey bisected the posts with ease. (00-19)
Soon S.Thomas’ made their way into the Royal 22m for the first time in the match but poor discipline let them down meters away from the try-line. It became worse as Bumindra Dissanayake was sin binned for hands in the ruck inside the Thomian 22m. Royal sensing blood went for the lineout and the famous ‘Royal Maul’ walked over for Warnakulasuriya to score the first of his three tries. Askey missed his second conversion of the day. (00-24)
Just before halftime Ishaaq Jurampathy who was playing his third position in as many matches as the outside center broke away on a chip and chase only to see it go out agonizingly close to the try-line.
Normal duties were resumed after half time when Royal eight wheeled the Thomian defenseive scrum 10 meters away, Warnakulasuriya barged over for the 5th try. Askey again showed good accuracy from an acute angle. (00-31)
Minutes later U.Madushan showed great strength to power his way past a few defenders and flanker Mohomed Lahir finished off the try. Another one of many instances where Royal showed the hosts how much difference mobility makes for a forward pack. Askey was on the money again with his conversion. (00-38)
Thomian midfield defense was found wanting again as Gayal Jayasinghe burst through and in the next phase Ashok sent Bhanuka Gamage through for his hat-trick from a cut out pass to score under the posts. Royal’s long passing from the halfbacks added another dimension to their attack which would be interesting to see come the Bradby. Askey added the easy two points. (00-45)
Mohomed Jhan of S.Thomas’ was yellow carded for an early tackle and the only spark for the hosts, Jurampathy again tried valiantly to score brushing aside a few defenders only to see his grubber kick go over the dead-ball line.
Royal showed hunger for more tries near the end turning over the ball as Peiris fed Warnakulasuriya to score his hat-trick and notch the half century. Ovin Askey put the icing on the cake with another conversion from an acute angle. (00-52)
“We played together as a team. We trained hard for this match because we didn’t play well against Dharmaraja. We took that easy. Our plan is to bring the Bradby Shield back to Royal after four years.” A jubilant Warnakulasuriya spoke with ThePapare.com after the match.
ThePapare.com’ Man of the Match: Supun Warnakulasuriya.
Scorers
Royal: Supun Warnakulasuriya 3T, Bhanuka Gamage 3T, M.S.Feroze 1T, M.S.Lahir 1T, Ovin Askey 6C
Match summary – Audio
Video Replay
