Royal College began their 2023 schools rugby season with a fixture against St. Peter’s College yesterday and have been told to maintain the highest norms of sportsmanship in keeping with their tradition.
Deputy principal of Royal College MVS Gunathilake stressed that he wants the team to win the Bradby Shield this year as well to make it for the seventh successive year.
He also said that rugby at Royal is now 103 years old and wanted them to maintain the high standard of sportsmanship.
The first leg of the Bradby Shield will be played on July 22 at Pallekele and the second leg on August 5 at the Royal Sports Complex in Colombo it was revealed at a media briefing conducted at the Duncan White Auditorium at the Sports Ministry on Monday (12). The team will also be backed by several sponsors including National Development Bank (NDB) while the main team sponsor will be Brandix.
Randul Senanayake and Thivain Perera have been appointed as the Royal College captain and vice-captain respectively while Dushanth Lewke will continue as head coach.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NDB Dimantha Seneviratne said that they are honoured to be associated with Royal rugby again despite going through a rough time in the recent past.
“We thought it is our privilege to be committed with rugby at Royal as rugby is the second most popular sport in the country. Royal rugby has come a long way during their long history in the game maintaining the highest sportsmanship and respect to one another,” added Seneviratne.
“It is a great honour to be associated with Royal rugby once again as we continue the partnership that we started many years ago as a co-sponsor,” said Hasitha Premaratne Managing Director of Brandix.
Other sponsors are SLT Mobitel-Telecom Partner, ATG-co-team sponsor, Ralhum Sports-Sports Equipment Partner, BOLT-Clothing Partner, Lanka Hospitals –Health care partner, Vision Care -Optical Partner, Nestle MILO-Nutrition Partner, Affinity Consulting - IT Strategic Partner, Elephant House/Krest-Food and beverage partner.
Royal will also play against Science College, Vidyartha College, Zahira College and Dharmaraja College in their qualifying group matches.