By Brian Thomas.
The 65 % to 35 % win predictor in favour of Trinity was achieved by the Lions, but the win was scrappy and unconvincing.
Trinity is definitely the far superior outfit. However, a preconceived speculation of winning by a big margin of 50 points or more inbuilt additional pressure on the Trinitians ,against a weaker team hence according to Former Sri Lanka Captain Christopher Jodesh it could have been a unhappy script for Trinity had they competed with a stronger team in the semi-finals.
Jodesh stated that Zahira College can keep their heads high for an excellent display of a very competitive challenge in which lemons were taken on dead lock score of 12 all. Trinity took the breather with anxiety as strong favourites.
Christopher Jodesh was quick to state that the individual brilliance of Shan Altaf got the Lions off the middle muddle to win.
Trinity scored off the kick-off, followed by the long stride run , by man of the match Shan Altaf, who extended the Trinity lead by 12 points to nil through an individual brilliance with a 40-meter run.
It was great to see the intent of the Zahira players, which lacked to a great extent by the lads from Kandy.
Zahira, off a 5-yard line out, outplayed the strong defence of the Trinity pack to get themselves on the scoreboard. Ball handling by Trinity was appaling to state the least. Mistakes, even by the best on the field, are inevitable under pressure. Shan Altaf safe as a house muddled a high ball, which ended in an uneven bounce, which facilitated Zahira to pounce on and score their second try to make the score even Steven’s at Lemons.
To add more anxiety for Trinity Shan Altaf even missed a penalty well within his kicking range just before the Whistle for the breather.
Lesson learnt by Trinity, keep it simple , play with your heavier pack , stop spreading the ball to your flat footed line that looks threatening only if Altaf joins the line to create the over lap , play with your forwards and ensure that your three quarters do not nap in defence. Catch and give Trinity, as butter fingers cost the Lions to lose the much needed possession more often than not. Guess these must have been the coaches’ talk during the breather.
Trinity did dominate the second half with 2 goals and a penalty with Zahira, not crossing the white wash ,however, the first try was through a line-out, in which Trinity seemed back on their feat , using their poweful forwards and the second was against the run of play. Altaf converted both tries and thumped a penalty in the dying moments of the long whistle to win by 29 points to 12.
Trinity breathed a sigh of relief when the final whistle was blown , and the body language of Trinity clearly indicated that despite the win, they looked perturbed with their performance as Zahira clearly told them never take a weaker opposition for granted. Christopher Jodesh endorsed this view in agreement.
Tomorrow, Royal plays Isipathana . This is a game of uncertainty. If Royal join Trinity in the finals going by what we saw today, the win predictor will be 50 % Royal 50 % Trinity. If Isipathana gets through its Isipathana 60 % Trinity 40 %.
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