Potential to be one of the best in the circuit
Romesh Priyankara (Captain)
St. Joseph’s College, Colombo- traces their rugby history back to the year 1955, and they were the sixth school in the island to take up the oval shape ball game, after Kingswood, Trinity, Royal, Zahira, St.Peter’s and S. Thomas’. But before that Joes have played unofficial rugby games under the name of ‘Hornets’, prior to officially recogniSing the sport in year 1955. Josephians, since then have produced fine all round teams that have made a mark in school rugby. The team of 1986 and 2009 was exceptional. In 2009, for the first time in their history, they defeated a Trinity side in their own den at Pallekale 27-24. This was one of the remarkable achievements in their rugby history of 61-years! In year 1986, they were about to upset Trinity, but due to a face saving try in the dying stages of the game, Trinity came back to hold St.Josephs for a 13-all draw.
The team of 2013 too was fine team produced by St. Joseph’s. The highlight was defeating Trinity 18-17 at Longden place, that made Trinity to bite dust in their quest to win the league title. Since 2009, Josephians have played in the top league of schools rugby. Last year Joes under the hard working flanker Tariq Salih, ended the league table in the fifth position, though they played good brand of rugby throughout the season. Last year , they clinched the Lady Jayathilake shield and Fr.Basil Weeratunge trophy by beating S. Thomas’ and St.Peter’s respectively. That was a wonderful achievement from a well drilled team! This season, the major setback for St. Joseph’s was, loss of 11 seniors from the last year team. But so far in the season, they have performed not up to the expectations of many Josephian rugby fans.
Devon Fernando (Vice Captain)
In their season opener for the Lady Jayathilake shield, they lost to S. Thomas 3-32. In the next game, at Pallekale they were beaten by Trinity 14-40. In their third fixture, they went down fighting to a Wesley outfit 10-19. With three games down, Josephians truly played their best game ever of the season, when they nearly defeated a Royal XV last week. It was a superlative performance by the Darley road school, with their backs totally outplaying their counterparts. Joes were sitting pretty at half time 24-10. In the second half, Joes had no answer to disrupt the rolling maul of Royal forwards, and allowed them to pile up the points. Finally the game ended in a tie 27-all.What a pity for Joes rugby, a golden opportunity to defeat Royal, after many years went begging.
Their final match of the first round, was against minnows of the segment 1A group, D.S.Senanayake College which played last Friday. Joes with the current performance in the seaosn, will not proceed to the second round for the Cup championship, but will play for the Plate. But Joes rugby should be happy for the future, as the coaching of junior and senior rugby has been taken over by set of Royalists. The head coach is none other than Bilal Yusuf, who is doing a yeoman service. He has taken the Joes rugby, so far into an improved level. His able assistants are Asanga Rodrigo, the backs coach and Ashane Dissanayake, who is taking care of the forwards. The junior rugby is in the hands of Bilal Hassen and Chamara Dabare, and it’s making progress. Joes rugby, will surely improve in coming years with having a good set of coaches taking care of junior and senior rugby. St. Joseph’s, this year is led by outstanding center Romesh Priyankara, a fourth year coloursman and a future Sri Lanka prospect. His deputy is Devone Fernando, a cracking number eight and a fourth year coloursman as well.
The St. Joseph’s First XV squad 2016:
Props:Supun Muthumal , Hasitha Eranga , Sachintha Perera , Ravindu Wenusha, Tristan Pereira
Hooker: Sven Muller , Praveen Thangiah
Second Rows: Rajitha de Silva, Tehan Seneviratne, Nimesh Senaratne, Kevin Silva , Rashmika Sisira
Flankers: Tharindu de Alwis, Kasun
Wickremasuriya,Hashene Dananajaya, Sonel Silva, Imesh Dissanayake, Naveen de Silva , Kevin de Silva
No.8: Devon Fernando (Vice captain)
Scrum half: Udeesha Perera , Lakshan Ishanka
Stand off: Chathura Seneviratne , Raveen Antonio
Centres: Romesh Priyankara (Captain), Sharith Amith, Sameesha Virangana, Shehan Kelaniyagoda, Raveen Antonio
Wingers: Ayomal Perera, Shan Akila, Vinul Fernando, Ashen Malinda, Vishwa Perera.
Full Back: Gemunu Chethiya.
St. Joseph's rugby squad for 2016 - Pix by Amila Gamage