The pandemic left the schools rugby circuit in shambles as the country hadn’t seen school rugby teams in action since March 2020. Many players lost their final chances to wear their school jerseys and the Class of ‘21 was the latest in threat of losing that opportunity.
But then came the first glimpse of school rugby as the Dialog Schools Provincial 7s Rugby Championship rolled by, and the Defending National 7s at Trinity were eager and ready to take it on in the hill capital as they prepared hard for the upcoming challenge.
The games were set to be played at our home venue at Pallekele. The first opponent that the Trinitians had to face was Sri Rahula College, Kandy. The opening game saw Trinity completing a sweep on their opponents as they drove it home at 50-0. The opener was just a glimpse of what was to come.
Next up was Dharmaraja College, Kandy. The fight at the beginning was intense as points swayed towards both ways , but ended with the lions on top with a score of 32-19
The final group stage game was against St. Anthony’s College Kandy. The game was intense as usual but then came an unusual series of events; 3 yellow cards in 3 successive moves for the Trinitians which rattled everyone who was watching and playing the game. It was 4 against 7 on the field, with that being a golden opportunity for the opponents to make maximum use of. One player was sent back on to the field just as a vital scrum in the opposition half was called. Then came a miraculuos try by our scrum half who defied all odds to surf past multiple defenders to score a try from over 60 m from the score line. 5 against 7 and a try being scored by the lower numbered inevitably became the talk of the rugby town- a stroke of brilliance yet again by the Trinitians yet again as they finished off the game 47-0, securing a spot in the finals.
The final was to be played against Kingswood College, Kandy. The game started off with the opponents opening the scoring, which ultimately became their only score of the game as the Trinitians stormed back into the lead to finish it off at 33-07
Ravindu Wickrmasinghe was awarded the Player of the Tournament for his performances.
Trinity was back on the top step by winning the title, a product of hardwork and smart work by the players as well as the coaching staff.
The team was as follows:
- Tehan Karunanayake (Capt)
- Thidas Thanthirige
- Tevin Karunanayake
- Thamuditha Dodanwatte
- Minidu Jayasundara
- Bawantha Dharmapala
- Ravindu Wickramasinghe
- Harsha Samarasinghe
- Sehan Sirisoma
- Ruvishan Pananwala
- Lithmal Moragoda
- Shaveen Premaratne
- Bhashana Wijesinghe
- Attab Manzil
- Chamendra Dhanapala
Reviewed by Jayageeth Basnayake
Photo credits to ‘I Love Trinity’
