Canon De Saram Shield encounter Trinity to lock horns with Thomians

Trinity CollegeS. Thomas’ College

By Shamseer Jaleel

Trinity College and S. Thomas’ College will battle it out for the Canon de Saram Shield at the Havelock rugby ground tomorrow at 4.15 p.m.

Trinity College led by Tehan Karunanayake looks a formidable outfit with some outstanding seniors such as Ravindu Wickremasinghe, Thidas Thantirige, Minindu Jayasundera and Lithmal Moragoda. They beat Sri Sumangala 47-14 and Dharmaraja College 42-00 in their two previous encounters. 

They are also the Central Province Sevens champions having beaten Kingswood College.
Meanwhile, the Thomian outfit is an unknown quantity having not played any matches this season. 
They are led by Lashendra de Silva with some outstanding players such as Dunal Fernando, Owin Hettiarachchi, Adhil Cader, Janidu Thilakaratne and Avindha Rekawa in their group.

Both schools first faced off in 1955 though the shield was first contested for in 1978.

The highest score in the series came under the captaincy of Murad Ramzeen, whose Trinity outfit ran circles around the Thomians, handing them a 75-06 win. The highest win for the Thomians came in 2010, when the Rajindra Gunasekera led team beat Kandy 40-30.

Trinity have 25 wins out of 42 encounters in the Canon de Saram encounter so far, with the Thomians winning 17, with no fixtures in 1971 and 2020. 

Trinity have also won 39 of the 67 matches, including those before the Canon de Saram Shield, played between the two teams, with Thomians winning 26.

Trinity College : Kaveesha Amarasekera, Dulara Alawattegama, Kaveesha Edama, Ruvishan Pananwala, Bawantha Dharmapala, Asiri Kodituwakku, Kaveen Wijesena, Thidas Thanthirige, Tehan Karunanayake (Capt), Thanuditha Dodanwatte, Rahman Kaleel, Tevin Karunanayake, Lithmal Moragoda, Minidu Jayasundera, Ravindu Wickremasinghe, Shehan Zakeer, Loshika Wijekoon, Shehan Priyankara, Jayageeth Basnayake, Chamendra Dhanapala, Shabith Rasheed, Sheveen Premaratne, Aatab Mansil, Ashen Wijesooriya and Upek Gammudali
S. Thomas College: D N D Yapa, J C D Thilakaratne, C M Ratwatte, S N Samarakody, D N Fernando, S D Fernando, C R R Kurukulasuriya, L D De Silva (Captain), N S S Perera (Vice Captain), Y B P Bulathsinhalage, J H Kock, O A Hettiarachchi, V A R De Silva, A Perera, A B Rekawa, A A Cader, J A Bulathsinghala, J K S Fernando, J J Martymstein, M A M Ali, N M M Perera, S K Selvanayagam, R S Wickremasuriya, R K N H Ramanayake and A J Noah

Referee Isuru Perera