Tyrell Rajapakse led the invincible Trinity team of 1987-by Hafiz Marikar
Trinity College skipper Tyrell Rajapakse being introduced to then President J.R. Jayewardene who was the chief guest at the Second Leg of the Bradby Shield against Royal College at the Sugathadasa Stadium
Tyrell Jason Rajapakse known as ‘Tikka’ a Trinity College rugby Lion was an outstanding rugby player and a top leader who marshalled his equally talented team of players to become their last Invincible 1st XV Rugby side. That was in 1987, precisely 33years ago. The 1987 team is regarded as one of the best teams. This is because for the clean sheet they maintained against formidable sides, for the brand of rugby they dished out and for the abundance of talent they possessed. It was under him, they won the league title last in 1987.
Tyrell’s team , that year was coached by Alex Lazarus. They won the coveted Bradby Shield, Canon de Saram trophy and the .R. Premadasa knockout trophy, .. They beat Thurstan College at Nittawela34-0…for the first time inTrinity rugby history, the team wore white shorts with the tri-colour jersey,beat Isipathana College at Bogambara15-6, beat Ananda College at Bogambara14-3, beat St. Anthony’s College at Bogambara 47-0, beat St. Joseph’s’ College at Bogambara 56-0, beat S..Thomas’College at Longden place 52-0, beat St.Peters College at Sugathadasa stadium 11-3, beat Royal in the 1st leg of the Bradby at Bogambara 7-3 and 2nd leg Bradby-Beat Royal at Sugathadasa Stadium 19-3. Then in the R.Premadasa trophy K/O tourney at Sugathadasa Stadium beat Royal in the quarter final11-3, beat Kingswood College in the semi final 11-6 and in the final beat Isipathana College 12-3. In the final Trinitians managed to pull off a memorable win under a carnival atmosphere at Sugathadasa Stadium by 12 points (a goal and 2 penalties) to 3 (a drop goal) and win the Premadasa Trophy. Isipathana was leading at half time3-0 with a drop goal by Sudesh Abeysinghe. For Trinity Nilantha Ratnayake scored the solitary try while Sha Doole converted it and two penalties.
At the end of the season for their remarkable achievement,then Trinity Principal, Rev. Dr. W.G.Wickremasinghe and head coach Alex Lazarus were happy to see the highest award the Lion being given to eight players of the team skipper Tyrell Rajapakse, Shah Doole,Dilshan Senanayake, Lohan Ratwatte, Dasarath Kiridena, Rajiv Bandaranayake, Senani Gunaratne and Inthi Marikar and Colours were awarded to 11 players. They were Ravi Kahatapitiya, Janindha Dunuwille, Prasad Dissanayake, Nishantha Abeysinghe, Prasanna Samarasinghe, Thakshala Hettiarachchi, Rohan Ranaraja,Bindu Dandeniya, Nilantha Ratnayake, Upul Gunaratne and Harikesh Wijenathan.
