The 1st Leg of the much awaited 70th Bradby Shield encounter was concluded on the 10th of May 2014, at the Royal College Sports Complex, where the game was subject to an abrupt ending with a few minutes of injury time to be played.

The game was fiercely contested by both sides, but eventually saw Trinity College prevailing with the scoreboard reading 16 – 28 in favour of Trinity.The first half of the game saw Trinity displaying solid defense, and with a hint of luck, managing to score right under the post through the wing three quarter (14), after which, the conversion was put through.Under immense pressure right away, Royal managed to put some points on the board through skipper Nimshan Jayawardena, who made the conversion of a penalty look easy.However, Trinity took advantage and capitalized on the opportunities which were created due to the slight defensive slack of the Royal three quarter line, and used it to score, where the conversion being successful, suddenly saw the scoreboard reading 03 – 14 in favour of the Trinity Lions.

It was evident by the display of Rugby being played, that Royal were fighting tooth and nail and to get back into the game, however the channeling of the energy resulted in a penalty being awarded to the Lions, which was converted and put the game further away from the Royalists with the scoreboard reading 03 – 17 in favour of the Lions.

The Royalists were not going to go down without a fight, as a brilliant all – round ploy worked perfectly for Royal, and saw Skipper Nimshan Jayawardena Diving over for a try, which was also converted by him to minimize the margin, with the scoreboard reading 10 – 17, still however, in favour of the Trinitians.As halftime was nearing, Royal were awarded a penalty which was comfortably converted by Skipper Nimshan Jayawardena, to reduce the deficit to a mere 4 points, with the scoreboard reading 13 – 17 in favour of the Trinitians.

After some inspiration from the Head Coach and the Assistant Coach during the halftime break, The Royalists got right back into the game in the second half with a converted penalty though Skipper Nimshan Jayawardena, which brought the scoreline to 16 – 17 in favour of the Trinitians, which reduced the deficit to 1 point.

The Royalists were getting closer as the team was definitely playing better, after the comeback which minimized the deficit.

However, the Trinitians suddenly found themselves on 23 points, which was due to a quick drop goal in front of the post, and a converted penalty, which saw the scoreboard reading 16 – 23 in favour of Trinity.

Royal were still giving it their all by trying to create opportunities which almost worked for them, but was not successful due to poor ball handling and passing.

The final try of the game, where Trinity scored through the three quarters, was a controversial one, as many thought the final pass made which led to the scoring of the Try, was a forward pass. However the referee’s call was final, as trinity went on to score once again, which saw the scoreboard reading 16 – 28.

Shortly after the final try, the game was abruptly ended with a few minutes left on the clock, not including the injury time there may have been, if any was to be played.

An emotional game as the Royalists find themselves behind by 12 points ahead of the 2nd Leg of the Bradby Shield, where the teams will battle it out for supremacy.

The Lions will take on the Royalists in Kandy on the 24th of May, as the Royalists will go all out to bring back the Shield. Await a closely contested finale. The stage is set for an epic battle in Kandy.

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