Gifted fly-half Shan Althaf kicked 20 points (six penalty goals and a conversion) as Trinity, trailing 20-13 at half-time, bounced back in style in the second-half to victory 25-23 and end 10 years of hurt in the second leg of the 78th Bradby Shield against Royal played at the Pallekele Stadium yesterday (7).
With Royal leading 23-22 at stoppage time, the Trinity pivot stepped up to nail a monster 55-metre penalty goal, leading his side to a intense come-from-behind victory and ending their long-standing Bradby jinx in their den.
Trinity scored through a converted try and six penalty goals, while Royal collected their tally from two converted tries and three penalties, in a game where the lead changed to and fro in the second half, only for Althaf to grab the victory from the jaws of defeat.
Althaf, the hero of the first leg in Colombo, when they edged a thriller 17-16 a fortnight back, proved to be the nemesis for the Royalists yet again as he booted four penalty goals for his team in the second stanza after the visitors had threatened to steal their thunder.
Royal controlled the first half well via their forwards and backs that continually tackled the home team to a standstill and went to the break with a seven-point advantage.
But the visitors weirdly struggled to press home their half-time advantage, while losing their composure and allowing the Lions to mount a fight-back through the boot of talented five-eighth Althaf.
In the end Trinity rode through the mistakes of their competitors to recover the prestigious silverware, which they had last possessed in 2014 under Tarinda Ratwatte.
Royal opened the counting in the first minute through a deft chip kick by fullback Yuwan Pathirana, who then collected it and crossed over unchallenged and with Idris Farouk’s adaptation, led 7-0.
Five minutes later, Trinity fly-half Althaf fired a 40-metre penalty to decrease the score to 7-3 and in the 21st minute he bisected the posts with another 40-metre penalty to reduce the gap to one point 6-7.
Three minutes later, Althaf’s Royal counterpart Farouk then fired a 35-metre penalty to edge his team 10-6 and in the 26th minute Trinity scored its lonely try in the game.
This was when fullback Yuwan Hulangamuwa made a superb break on the right flank and when challenged he chipped it ahead and the ball was gathered by onrushing Minula Yaddehige for Trinity to lead 13-10, with Althaf adding the extras.
Royal struck back in the 28th minute via a Nabil Yahiya penalty goal to level the scores 13-all and on the stroke of half-time, their blind-side flanker Ayyash Shiyam powered through to score from a five-metre line out and, with Farouk’s conversion, led 20-13.
After the turnaround, Trinity slowly but surely kept coming back as they cashed in on the breaches of their traditional foes, to run away as the deserved winners of the Bradby to round off the season.
Althaf kicked penalty goals in the 43rd, 57th, and 64th minutes and in stoppage time, to fire his school to their now famous Bradby triumph.
In the end Royal could only add a 67th minute three-pointer through Yahiya as the blue and gold’s surrendered the coveted shield after possessing it for the past decade.
Trinity lifted the shield by virtue of this season’s overall aggregate of 42-39, following their one-point win (17-16) in Colombo two weeks ago and with this win they also lead the overall series tally 40-36.
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