Sports
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Royal and Kingswood big guns in the league By
Shamseer Jaleel Given
below are brief descriptions of some of the schools teams who will
scrum down this season. Kingswood: This
year Kingswood is being led by Fazil Marija a top class fly- half
who made is debut for the Sri Lanka XV against the Hong Kong Rugby
Team at the Asian Quadrangular Tournament in Kandy. With 9 players
from last year's team the lads from Kandy are all out to clinch
the top league and play cohesive and open rugby to entertain the
crowd. The
side is coached by hard working Ronnie Ibrahim brother of the national
player Nilufer Ibrahim. They will open the season with a game against
Royal College Colombo in Kandy. Kingswood
have already lived upto the expectations by winning the "Kings
Rugby Sevens" beating the St Peter's side by 46-5 in the grand
final recently in Kandy at the Bogambara Stadium. Their skipper
Fazil Marija was adjudged as the player of the tournament for his
excellent all round performances. They also have the services of
the senior players in the calibre of Gemunu Kirinde, Roshan Premaratne,
Mohamed Jabbar and Mohamed Rizvi to deliver the goods. Royal: The
defending League champions Royal are all out to retain the league
title though they will have stiff challenge from Kingswood College
Kandy. The side is being led by Lakshman Dissanayake who might play
as the pack leader. He will have the services of no less than 11
senior players and their IRB rated Referee Nizam Jamaldeen will
assist C.P.Abeygunawardena once more. They will open the season
by playing Kingswood in Kandy on 18th of June. St
Anthony Katugastota: The
side is led by Sri Lanka youth player Imran Bistamin who is a class
number 8 player and he is in his 4th year. The lads from Katugastota
are having a young side which will be under the watchful eye of
the coach Priyantha Gunaratne. They
will have the services of seven senior players namely Jayasekera,
Ananda, Wijeratne, Riyal, Ally and Phillawatte. They open the season
on June 18 against Isipathana in Kandy. St
Peter's: St.
Peter's is being led by the star winger and a future asset of local
rugby Mohamed Rinaz who will have the services of senior players.
They open the season with a friendly game against Nalanda College
on May 29. Their main League match will be against Prince of Wales
College on June 17. The side will be coached by Rugby's legend Hisham
Abdeen and Sunanda Fernando. Wesley: Nuwan
Samith who will have 12 senior players in their rank leads the side
from Campbell Park. They gave a good account of themselves when
they went down fighting against a top Kingswood side by 12-17 in
the semi finals of the Kingswood 7s recently. Their first game will
be against S.Thomas' on June 14. S.
Thomas': Center
three quarter Dilan Fox will lead the side with Namal Rajapakse
assiting him. The Mt. Lavinia school will be having services of
7 seniors in their rank. Chaminda
Rupasinghe who is the director of rugby at S. Thomas' is doing an
excellent service for his old school where he learnt the oval shape
ball game. Mahinda Jayawardena and Sanjeewa Saranapala will coach
the side. They
will start the season with a warm up match against St. Peter’s
on 4 June. Isipathana: The
lads from Havelock Town better known as the "Green Shirts"
will be led by Asoka Gunawardena and they will be once again have
the services of Sanath Martis. Isipathana always a major force in
local rugby will kick off the season with a game against the old
boys on May 29 and a friendly game against Vidyartha College Kandy
on June 6. They will be on song when they play St Anthony's Katugastota
in Kandy on 18 June. Dharmaraja: Dharmaraja
after getting demoted from Division "A" to "B"
will be led by Romesh De Silva and will be coached by C. S. Ekanayake
for the 10th consecutive year. The school from the hill capital
have produced some classy players such as Daya Jayasundera, Muruga
Jayarathna, Indrajith Bandaranayake, Ajantha Samarakoon, Hemantha
Yatawara and the present national sevens captain Radhika Hetiarachchi
are few of them. Former Kingswoodian Ananda Kasturiarachchi will
assist C. S. Ekanayake in coaching the side. Trinity: Trinity
College Kandy will be led by 4th year player Ayaz Ainaff who will
have the services of 14 senior players. The household name for rugby
Trinity will be mainly focusing in their traditional matches with
regaining the Bradby Shield is their prime target. Ainaff will have
another 4th year player Dhammika Senarath as his deputy. The Australian
coach Geoff Garland will handle the side with Alex Lazarus being
his deputy. They will play their first match on June 14 against
Vidyartha College. The under 17 side is coached by Anil Jayasinghe,
who has produced some quality players to the senior team. St
Joseph's: The
school from Darley Road will be led by number 8 player Dhanushka
Perera who represented the CH & FC team last year. The side
will be coached by an old boy of the school Boppearachchi who played
for the Park Club with much success. They will have 14 senior players
and they open the season with a game against Zahira on June 5 at
CR & FC grounds in Colombo. The Josephian side is lucky to get
the services of former sevens specialist Nazeem Mohamed as their
technical advisor. Nazeem who played for Science College and CH
& FC captained the sevens team at the Singer Sri Lankan sevens
in 1999. He also played for the national XV from 1992-99. With former
CH & FC player Kenneth De Zilva being the Rugby Coordinator
at the school and working round the clock the boys are assured to
give their best and no doubt they will stamp their class in the
coming inter club rugby season. Vidyartha: Vidyartha
College Kandy will go flat out to win the William Gopallawa Shield
when they confront Ananda College in their annual encounter. The
side which started playing rugby 41 years ago will be led by Shahika
who is a 3rd year player. This season Vidyartha College will be coached by an old boy of the school Mohamed Faizal. Faizal who had a stint with the Juniors at St. Anthonys is also an excellent referee played for the school in 1991-92. They will open the season with a game against Trinity College at Pallekelle on June 12. Their first tournament match will be on June 18 against Science College in Colombo. |
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