Peterites mourn passing of rugby star Rajith
The champion Peterite Rugby team of 1985 captained by Rajitha Abeygoonewardene which broke the hoodoo of 44 years with Trinity College
Peterites young and old were saddened by the untimely demise last week of one of their favourite rugby sons Rajith Abeygoonewardene under whose dynamic leadership the Bambalapitiya school played like champions in 1985.
Abeygoonewardene who was domiciled in the USA for the most part of his life, had returned to the island recently and was living in Galle when he died of a heart attack. He was 53 at the time of his death.
The St. Peter’s 1985 rugby outfit led by dashing wing three quarter Abeygoonewardene humbled many fancied schools that season. Most memorably, they were lionized for breaking a 44-year-old hoodoo against Trinity College, Kandy.
The Peterite and Trinity encounter began way back in 1933. Many rugby fans, especially from St. Peter’s will not forget the match against Trinity 35 years ago. They humbled the high-riding Trinity Bradby winning ‘Lions’ at Longdon Place on 13th July 1985. Trinity was led by Manoj Jayatissa who had Ikram Odayar, Ravi Ranasinghe, Thushara Weerasuriya and Senani Gunarathne.
Rajith Abeygoonewardene
St. Peter’s had an outstanding outfit in Niranjan Perera, Misver Deane, Ramzay Dakak, Crofton Joseph, Rajith Abeygoonawardena and Graham Raux. Rajith was an outstanding leader whose decision-making was spot on, leading by example. He either worked the line or kicked to touch with much accuracy where a coach cannot ask for more from a leader.
Coming in to this game the lads from Bambalapitiya had last beaten Trinity in 1941 that too by a solitary penalty. However, both teams were in a belligerent mood after suffered losses – St Peter’s were beaten by Isipathana and St Anthony’s while Trinity were bombed at Bogambara by Ananda’s historical win.
On the day, St Peter’s coached by Angelo Wickremaratne were simply outstanding. They played cohesive rugby and played like a champion outfit. Trinity though coming in to this game beating Royal in the first leg were shell shocked as they defended for most part of the 60-minute game.
St Peter’s scored first in the early stages when their skipper Rajith Abeygoonawardena smothered a clearance kick by Trinity full back Thushara Weerasuriya. This sent nippy scrum half Rovern Gunasekera over the try line. Crofton Joseph missed the conversion kick to take a 4/0 lead. After the turn around Crofton Joseph scored the second Peterite try but missed the conversion.
For Trinity, flanker Ikram Odayar. He tackled and even sent Crofton Joseph in a stretcher minutes before the final whistle. They had some outstanding players in Sean Wanigasekera, Thushara Weerasuriya, Steve Rabot and Tyrell Rajapakse, while Alex Lazarus was on his debut as their head coach.
Lionel Almeida refereed this memorable encounter.