Royal College altered its sporting history forever in 1916 when it took to playing Rugby. By this time Trinity College in Kandy has started the game already in 1906 and on 31st July 1920, the first Royal vs. This historic match resulted in Royal being grounded by the Trinitians. The same fate followed most of the early encounters until Royal first scored in 1924 and had their first win in 1941. Ro
yal also won both matches in 1943, the year the two match series was started. Matches against other schools also started such as Zahira Collegein 1925, St. Thomas in 1956. It was the Royal principal E.L. Bradby who initiated the two-match Colombo – Kandy series with Trinity. In 1945, he offered the Bradby Shield to the team that has the higher aggregate of points in both matches. Today, this is the most prestigious school Rugby match in the country. Although the rivalry between the two schools is extremely tense, it must be mentioned that both the winner and looser are always gracious. The Centenary match between the two schools was the second leg encounter played in 1983 in which the Chief Guest was Mr E.L Bradby himself. The 2008 second leg match was the 150th match between the two schools. The 2002, the Bradby encounter was the highest scoring encounter for Royal, led by Zulki Hamid, winning a record (39-00) in the first leg held in Colombo and winning the second leg (44-00) in Kandy, thus winning the Bradby Shield with a record aggregate of 83 – 00. The Royal – Trinity Rugby matches for the Bradby Shield have brought the two schools close to each other in a way that is inexplicable. In particular, after the match in Kandy, the old boys of both schools get together for a night of revelry and entertainment in the best of Traditions. The annual encounter against St. Thomas is contested for the Micheal Gunaratne Trophy which was introduced in 1962. The annual encounter against Isipathana Vidyalaya is contested for the Milroy Fernando Trophy.
-Source taken from royalcollege.lk-
PAST ROYAL RUGBY CAPTAINS (1945 onwards)
1945 C.D.L. Fernando
1946 M. Rodrigo
1947 N.W. Karunaratne
1948 A.A. Cader
1949 G.C. Weinman
1950 T. St. C. Anghie
1951 H.E. Wijesighe
1952 A.B. Vantwest
1953 (Joint) T.s.almeida & T.l.k.mendis
1954 K.W.W. Edwards
1955 C.V Goonaratna
1956 T.L. Almeida
1957 R. Sivarathnam
1958 D.N. Fernando
1959 M.L. Anghie
1960 H.S. De Silva
1961 J.V.P. Samarasekara
1962 U.L. Kaluarachchi
1963 M. Jayakumar
1964 K.D.T. Paul
1965 U.P. Wickramasinghe
1966 R. Thurairatnam
1967 (Joint) D.j.perera & N.b.l.lieversz
1968 J.K.C.R. De Silva
1969 H. Malwatta
1970 C.J. Fernando
1971 F.R. Perera
1972 G.D.S. Gunasekara
1973 M. Muller
1974 M.R. Akbar
1975 I. Hassen
1976 M. weerakumar
1977 S. Suhail Hashim
1978 K.T.R. Peiris
1979 R.B. Gunasekara
1980. S. Sujanthakumar
1981 N.S. Cooray
1982 E.H.M. Muttiah
1983 N.S.S. Cooray
1984 H.S. Agalawatta
1985 C. Nanayakkara
1986 M.J. Peiris
1987 H.A.S. Madanayaka
1988 L.W. De Z. Gunaratna
1989 J.H.A. Dhammika
1990 R. Jayasooriya
1991 M. Dahanayaka
1992 H. Wijesighe
1993 C.R. Abeysuriya
1994 R. Malalasekara
1995 A. Assen
1996 R. Gunathilaka
1997 A.A. Yusuf
1998 W.S.S. Perera
1999 D.R. Rahim
2000 S. Perera
2001 H. Kaluarachchi
2002 Z. Hamid
2003 R. Jayasundara
2004 L. Dissanayake
2005 V. Wijewardena
2006 C. Sandaruwan
2007 M. Abeyrathne
2008 S.P. Lenaduwa
2009 N. Dhason
2010 D. Attygala
2011 S. Pathirana
2012 A. Jamaldeen
2013 R. Jamaldeen
2014 N. Jayawardana
2015 B. Gamage
2016 N.Gunadeera
2017 Ovin Askey
2018 Sabith Feroze
2019 Thulaib Hassan
2020 Lehan Guneratne
2021 Rajindhu Jayasundara
2022 Hasith Peiris
