Trinity thumps Royal to clinch President’s Trophy for the first time in 15 years
April 4, 2026 05:54 pm
Reigning league champions Trinity College Kandy re-wrote history books as Shan Althaf-led team thrashed Royal College Colombo 58-26 in the finals to clinch the 2026 President’s Trophy Inter-Schools Knock-Out Rugby Tournament at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo this evening (04).
Trinity, who lost last year’s President’s trophy final, came into the encounter with grit and determination against their traditional rivals. They opened the scoring with centre Kevin Weerakoon completing a backline move to lead 05-00. Royal however managed to hit back with a brilliant rolling maul where prop Lemitha Amerasinghe went over the line. Mohamed Simak made no mistake with the conversation to give the Royalists a slender 07-05 lead.
Trinity winger Dimath Ambepitiya then scored back-to-back tries with skipper Althaf putting over one of the tries for a healthy 17-07 lead. When Trinity looked like running away with the game, Royal skipper Disas Pathirana reduced the deficit to 17-12 with his first try of the final.
Trinity’s backline was consistently threatening Royal’s gain line and looked like scoring every time they entered the red zone. When Royal defence was back peddling Ammaar Manzil collected a brilliant cross-kick from Abdul Malik to score a corner flag try to restore Trinity’s 10-point lead.
Just before the breather, skipper Althaf completed a smart kick-and-chase with Malik going over the line much to the disappointment of the Royal coaching staff.
Trinity led 27-12 at lemons.
The second half started just like the way the opening half ended with Trinity looking ominous in attack with Royal defence looking out of sorts. Trinity skipper Shan Althaf scored back-to-back tries to put the game beyond Royal’s reach even before the hour-mark. Hamza Abdeen and Ammaar Manzil added further agony on the Royalists by scoring two more tries and taking the score line past the 50-point mark.
Although Hiruka Jayadinu and Akira Yatawara scored two tries for Royal in the dying stages, the game was well out of reach of the Royalists. Trinity skipper Shan Althaf fittingly had the final say in this year’s President’s Trophy final scoring his hattrick to clinch the prestigious President’s trophy after 15 long years.
Trinity last won the President’s Trophy in 2011 under Murad Ramzeen.
