Tharindu among the best

At 15 he was in contention for a place in the senior squad and a couple of seasons later he had the distinction of representing the First XV 'sevens' team.

After many years of hard work and commitment Tharindu Siriwardena has emerged as one of the top number eight player in the current inter schools rugby scene.


Tharindu Siriwardena. Picture by Mahinda Vithanachchi

His latest heroics came last week when he spearheaded Isipatana College to a memorable 30-24 triumph against the arch rivals S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia in a key inter school fixture.

This was a fantastic effort considering the fact that the team had earlier suffered two demoralizing defeats at the hands of St. Peter's College and Kingswood College Kandy respectively.

As a result Isipatana were faced with a must win situation and their chances of winning the title was quietly slipping away from their hands. But Tharindu Siriwardena grabbed the opportunity to produce his best performance this season with a great amount of courage and determination.

The skill level and the tactical play that he employed in this vital game certainly had a huge impact in the final outcome as Isipatana bounced back into recognition with a morale boosting victory.

They were almost down and out after the opening two fixtures in which they did not play to their potential where they hacked the forwards too much throughout the game.

But a change in their game plan transformed the entire Isipatana outfit into a formidable one which brought them the desired results at the end. Four tries even before half time and that was the kind of attitude that the lads from Havelock Park adapted to pull off a splendid victory despite the heavy odds against them.

Tharindu Siriwardena was in the thick of every move and he performed that role quite exceptionally while making some vital decisions when his side was under tremendous pressure.

He was able to plan out a superb strategy in the first half that helped them to build up a 30-12 lead and then organized a solid defence during the latter stages when the Thomians had launched a fierce late rally.

But Siriwardena as the pack leader and playmaker held his nerve and motivated his teammates that eventually helped them to come out of a tough situation. This was of course not the first time that he had performed a similar role having served the Isipatana First XV team for the past three years.

In fact his best outing was last year where he mastered one of the finest victories in schools rugby to beat a powerful Kingswood College team at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy. Another effort that would always be in his memory is the try that he scored in the 2008 President's Trophy knock out tournament final against St. Peter's College. Even then Isipatana had to be content with the runners up position on that occasion.

Siriwardena of course started his rugby career as a centre three quarter under the guidance of his first coach A. C. Tennekoon. Thereafter he switched positions and joined the front row as a prop forward while representing the College Under 15 team.

He also had a liking to hockey and was the vice captain of the College under 13 and 15 teams. He was an all round sportsman at the beginning and played a major role in the junior basketball and cricket teams as well. But as time passed he settled with his favourite sport rugby and soon became one of the star players in the First XV team.

He also had the distinction of captaining the under 13, under 15 and under 18 teams respectively. In fact he was able to represent the First XV team at 17 years and from there onwards he went on to make vast strides in the schools rugby scene by playing in his favourite Number Eight position.

Siriwardena said that he obtains a great amount of satisfaction by playing in the third row which is one of the key positions in the lineup. No wonder his favourite ruggerite is the New Zealand skipper and flanker Richey Macko for his powerful tackling and well disciplined play.

Siriwardena has now reached his pinnacle in schools rugby and is hoping to make this season a memorable one by winning the rest of the matches in the Singer division one league tournament.

Siriwardena later came under the guidance of Sajith Mallikarachchi, Bimal Perera and Shamly Nawaz.

In fact he is privileged to be coached and guided by a former Isipatanian Shamly Navaz who himself as a number eight player has rendered all the assistance and the knowledge to become a top ruggerite.

Nawaz believe that Siriwardena is certainly a future Sri Lankan star and has already shown signs of taking the game into the next level.

He is a good lose player with the forwards and his leadership qualities are also quite excellent.

The Isipatana coach was really impressed with the kind of performance which he produced in the must win game against S. Thomas' College at Mount Lavinia.

He said that Siriwardena led the way by making some good decisions at vital stages of the game and was able to motivate his teammates during tough situations.

Nawaz was proud to state that young Siriwardena is now playing even better than he performed some time back after having absorbed all the experience and the knowledge during the last two seasons.

Nawaz said that he first came across Siriwardena during the 2008 inter school season and since then he has been able to make a tremendous improvement both physically and mentally.

Daily News, May 14th 2010

Isipathana record season’s second win

Isipatana College cruised to their second successive victory this season as they trounced Wesley College by a convincing margin of 35 points to 15 points in their Singer inter school under 20 Division I League rugby tournament match worked off at Longden Place, yesterday.

Isipatana collected their points from two goals, three tries and two penalties after having built up a commanding 28-10 lead at half time. The Wesleyans responded with three unconverted tries.

DailyNews, May 13th 2010

Isipatana bring down Thomians

Isipatana College have produced the ingredients of success for the first time in the current inter school rugby season. Last week they brought down the high riding S. Thoma’s College team with a stunning performance at Mount Lavinia.
This was a tremendous effort from Isipatana who went into this important game at the back drop some uncertainly having suffered two shock defeats at the hands of St. Peter’s College and Kingswood College Kandy respectively. But in a dramatic turn of events the lads from Havelock Park produced a different game plan as they went on to avenge their last years 12-28 defeat against the same opponents.
Despite performing away from home Isipatana got off to a flying start as they began to dictate terms against the more superior and heavy Thomian forwards. In fact Isipatana rattled up all their points in the first half and were able to build up a commanding 30 points to 7 points lead at half time.
This was clearly a completely different Isipatana outfit compared to their previous two matches, as they planted four early tries that turned out to be crucial at the end. In fact the early setback was certainly causing great concern in the Thomian camp as they began to regroup and stage a comeback in the second half.
The home team was able to reduce the deficit to a solitary try at the end after a great fight back and that was a creditable performance considering their position at half time.
Nevertheless Isipatana will take it because they have now kept their hopes alive of making some progress during the rest of the tournament.
Trinity v Kingswood
Trinity College Kandy pulled off a thrilling 21 points to 20 points victory over their home town rivals Kingswood College in another Singer inter school under 20 division one league rugby tournament match played at the Bogambara Stadium.
The Trinitians despite going in as the underdogs displayed a great amount of courage and determination to snatch a memorable win under tremendous pressure. They made their intentions clear from the kick off and took an early lead from which point they were able to consolidate their position.
However Trinity College had to survive a fierce late rally from Kingswood who made a great comeback during the latter stages of the game. In fact they almost turned this game in their favour following a spectacular try from skipper Rajitha Sansoni during the dying moments of the game.
However Sansoni crucial conversion went astray and with that Trinity College was able to pull off the game through a single point margin.
Royal v Dharmaraja
The defending champions Royal College cruised to their third successive victory as they trounced Dharmaraja College Kandy by 27 points to five points in another Singer inter school under 20 division one league rugby tournament match worked off at the Royal Sports Complex.
Royal are of course yet to face any stiff opposition this season having earlier played two of the weak opponents of the tournament Prince of Wales College Moratuwa and Wesley College respectively.
This time too they sailed through quite smoothly while scoring five tries that also helped them to collect the extra bonus point which could be decisive at the end. The major concern probably was the fact that they could convert only one of the tries which prevented them from winning the game by a much bigger margin.
St. Peter’s v Prince of Wales
St. Peter’s College playing like a champion side thrashed Prince of Wales College Moratuwa by a mammoth 164 points to nil in a completely lopsided Singer inter school under 20 division one league tournament match worked off at Havelock Park.
The Peterites never showed any mercy to their opponents who were making their A division debut, as they ran down as many as 26 tries out of which 17 were converted.
St. Peter’s College raced to a huge 80 points to nil lead at half time following a dazzling performance from their dynamic centre three quarter Dhanushka Ranjan who ended up with eight tries to his credit.
In addition winger Sandun Herath also grabbed the opportunity to make an impact as he touched down on six occasions.
Wesley v St. Anthony’s
St. Anthony’s College bounced back in style with a morale boosting 51 points to 12 points victory over Wesley College in their Singer inter school under 20 division one league tournament match played at Havelock Park.
The Antonians after two unsuccessful attempts finally got their act together well as they completely outplayed their opponents by running down seven tries during a magnificent performance. They were of course restricted to a certain extent initially but cut loose in the second half as they ran circles around the Wesley defence while conceding only a couple of tries.

DailyNews, May 11th 2010

Kingswood in stunning win over Isipatana

Former champions Kingswood College Kandy produced a superb second half rally to beat a powerful Isipatana outfit by 22 points to 15 points in a thrilling Singer inter school Under 20 division one league rugby tournament match worked off at Havelock Park yesterday.

The Kingswoodians who were trailing 12-15 at half time came back magnificently and turned the game in their favour while collecting their points from two goals, one try and one penalty.

Isipatana responded with one goal, one penalty try and one penalty.

Isipatana took the lead with a penalty try but came under severe pressure thereafter from the visitors who scored twice to snatch the initiative. First it was centre three quarter Mohamed Fazlin who touched near the corner flag with fullback Rajindra Sansoni adding the extra points.

Few minutes later Sansoni produced a beautiful piece of work to score their second try of the match while adding the finishing touches to a splendid three quarter move.

However Isipatana staged a good recovery and kept their hopes alive while scoring their only try of the match and also putting over a penalty shortly before half time.

Winger Umayanga Sooriyabandara did the honours with a superb dummy and fly half Prashan Attanayake responded with a neat 25 metre penalty as Isipatana went into half time with a slender 15-12 lead.

In the second half Kingswood College changed their tactics and launched a series of attacking moves through their third row which really put a lot of pressure on their opponents.

As a result winger Prabath Jayatilleke was able to slice through the Isipatana defence and score probably the match winning try, few minutes before the final whistle. Oshan Perera made no mistake with the conversion and almost immediately he followed up with a crucial penalty that completely sealed the game in their favour.

Thomians edge out Antonians

S. Thomas’ College went through some real anxious moments before recording a hard fought 15 points to 12 points victory over St. Anthony’s College in their Singer inter school Under 20 division one league rugby tournament match worked off at Mount Lavinia yesterday.

The Thomians collected their points from one goal, one try and one penalty after the scores were level 12 all at half time. The Antonians responded with one goal and one penalty.

Royal in 12-0 win

The defending champions Royal College pulled off a convincing 12 points to nil victory over Wesley College in their Singer inter school Under 20 division one league rugby tournament match worked off at the Royal Sports Complex yesterday.

Even then Royal were given a tough time by their opponents as they managed to score only one goal and one try after they had taken a close 5 nil lead at half time.

DailyNews May 1st, 2010

Isipatana out to redeem lost prestige

Isipatana College with a star studded line up are in search of their past glory as they look to redeem their lost prestige in the current inter- school rugby season.

They have retained virtually the same team that performed last year and with 13 coloursmen in their ranks they could be considered as strong contenders for the Singer Division One League title.

The Isipatana College First XV rugby pool for 2010. Pctures by Mahinda Vithanachchi

Last year of course their efforts ended in vain as they were pushed into the fifth place in the final points table after having recorded only five victories. Even then they were able to conclude the season on a positive note by emerging runners-up at the President’s Trophy knock out tournament.
Isipatana came very close to creating an upset as they went down fighting 19-22 in the final against S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. Before that they had the better of Dharmaraja College, Kandy (27-21) in the quarter-finals and Wesley College (28-0) in the semi-finals respectively.
In the league tournament last year their finest moment probably came when they outplayed Kingswood College Kandy 25-19 in a key fixture at the Bogambara Stadium. Their success certainly had a great amount of significance as they were performing away from home and it also shattered Kingswood’s hopes of retaining the title for the second successive year.
In addition they defeated St. Peter’s College (22-12), Dharmaraja College Kandy (21-6), St. Joseph’s College and Mahanama College (39-10). But their hopes were
shattered following two major setbacks where they lost to St. Anthony’s College (10-12) and Trinity College, Kandy (15-27) respectively.
Isipatana College could look back at the past with a great amount of pride having produced as many as 53 national players since they started playing rugby in 1963. This is a fantastic achievement for a school which still does not own a playground of their own. As a result Isipatana are forced to depend heavily on their neighbouring Havelocks Sports Club which has been very supportive in providing the grounds free of charge for practices.

Ashan Chaturanga (captain)

Despite all these setbacks Isipatana College have continued to prosper and more importantly they have been feeding the national squad with some outstanding ruggerites.

In fact during the last couple of years the Sri Lanka team has been studded with five Isipatanians namely Dinesh Chaturanga, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Sajith Saranga, Reza Mubarak and Vishwamithra Jayasinghe. This is in addition to the number of youth players they have been feeding to the Sri Lanka Under 19 squad.
Isipatana of course suffered a shock defeat at the hands of St. Peter’s College by 8-27 in their opening match of the tournament at Havelock Park during the weekend.
But that will not be the end of their campaign and they will be even more determined to display their prowess in the remaining matches of the tournament.
In fact Isipatana will face two tough opponents during the next two weeks when they confront Kingswood College, Kandy and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia respectively.
This will be followed by two traditional games against Royal College on May 29 and Trinity College, Kandy on June 5 respectively.
The Isipatana College First XV Rugby Pool for 2010
Prop forwards: Heshana Sudharaka, Dhanushka Sooriyarachchi
Hooker: Prasad Madushanka, Isuru Fernando, Marlon Hevavitharana, Nipuna Devinda
Second rowers: M. Gayashan, Rukshan Jalil, Muksheed Kuthdoos
Flankers: Sajid Suhayb, Deshanth Subashana, Ashan Kovinda, Kuvendra Dharmadasa
Number eight: Tharindu Anuruddha, Udaya Kumar, Nigel Nadeesha, P. Wickremasinghe, J. Deen
Scrum halves: Shenal de Costa, Mohamed Rizwan
Fly half: Prasad Devinda
Centres: Ashan Chaturanga (captain), Yuresh Fonseka, Mohamed Ali, Nikalanka Promoda, Uditha Shenal
Wingers: Umayanga Sooriyabandara, Prashan Attanayake, Chanaka Kumara, Sumedha Srimal
Full back: Malik Jumath, Shenal Dias
Coach: Shamly Navaz
The tournament fixtures:
April 30: v Kingswood College, Kandy at Havelock Park
May 8: v S. Thomas’ College at Mount Lavinia
May 12: v Wesley College at Longden Place
May 22: v St. Anthony’s College at Havelock Park
May 29: v Royal College at Longden Place
June 5: v Trinity College Kandy at Longden Place
June 12: v Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa at Havelock Park
June 19: v Dharmaraja College, Kandy at Bogambara

DailyNews - April 27th, 2010 - By Chris Dhambarage

Schools rugby kicks off on April 24

The 2010 Singer inter school Under 20 division one league rugby tournament will kick off on April 24 with ten teams vying for top honours. The tournament will conclude on June 19 with a total of 45 matches to be worked off across several venues in Colombo and Kandy.
The defending champions Royal College captained by centre Duminda Attygalle will launch their campaign for the title with a home match against Prince of Wales College Moratuwa at the Royal College Sports Complex in Reid Avenue.
However the key match for the first week will be the clash between two former league champions Isipatana College and St. Peter’s College which will be worked off at Havelock Park.
The Peterites of course have already made their presence felt in the current season having clinched the Western Province and the All Island Seven-a-Side tournaments respectively. In contrast Isipatana skipped the All Island tournament with the intention of preparing for the more important league tournament.
Isipatana have been training for the new season since October last year and very recently they had a highly successful training session up in Diyatalawa under the guidance of coach Shamly Navaz.
Isipatana will be captained by speedy centre three quarter Ashan Gallage and the side is further boosted with the inclusion of 13 top coloursmen. The other senior players in the lineup are vice captain and number eight Tharindu Siriwardena, flankers Deshanth Subashana, Sajid Suhayb, second row forward Muksheed Kuthdoose, prop forward Dhanushka Suriyarachchi, scrum half Mohamed Rizwan, fly half Prasad Devinda, centre Mohamed Ali, wingers Yuresh Fonseka, Prashan Attanayake and full back Malik Jamath.
St. Peter’s College who defeated Trinity College in the final to win the sevens title will be led by dynamic fly half Keith Gurusinghe and will have the services of several other coloursmen including number eight Shenal Dias, prop forward Steve Nelson, scrum half Rizwan Meedin, centres Bhanuka Nanayakkara, Dhanushka Ranjan and fly half Anish Fernando.
Meanwhile one of the important matches in the schools rugby calendar the clash between arch rivals Isipatana College and Trinity College Kandy will be worked off on June 5 at the CR and FC grounds in Longden Place.
Before that Isipatana College will lock horns with Royal College for the Major Milroy Fernando memorial trophy in their annual inter school rugby encounter which is scheduled for May 29 at Longden Place.
The defending champions Royal College will have two tough games during the latter stages of the tournament where they will take on the traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy in the first leg of the Bradby Shield on June 12 on their home grounds followed by another important game against S. Thomas’ College on June 19 at Mount Lavinia.
St. Peter’s College will have another tough game in their second outing for the season where they will be up against Trinity College Kandy on May 30 at the Pallekelle Stadium.
In addition the Royal - St. Peter’s clash which is also a much looked after contest in the schools rugby calendar is scheduled for May 22 at the Royal Sports Complex.
The schedule
April 24: Royal v Prince of Wales at Royal Sports Complex, S. Thomas’ v Wesley at Mount Lavinia, Kingswood v St. Anthony’s at Bogambara, Trinity v Dharmaraja at Pallekelle, Isipatana v St. Peter’s at Havelock Park
April 29: Wesley v Royal at Longden Place
April 30: Prince of Wales v Dharmaraja at Royal Sports Complex, S. Thomas’ v St. Anthony’s at Mount Lavinia, Trinity v St. Peter’s at Pallekelle, Isipatana v Kingswood at Havelock Park
May 7: Wesley v St. Anthony’s at Royal Sports Complex, Kingswood v Trinity at Bogambara
May 8: S. Thomas’ v Isipatana at Mount Lavinia, Royal v Dharmaraja at Royal Sports Complex
May 9: Prince of Wales v St. Peter’s at Royal Sports Complex
May 12: Isipatana v Wesley at Longden Place
May 15: Royal v St. Anthony’s at Royal Sports Complex, S. Thomas’ v Trinity at Mount Lavinia
May 16: Prince of Wales v Kingswood Royal Sports Complex
May 21: Wesley v Trinity at Royal Sports Complex
May 22: Royal v St. Peter’s at Royal Sports Complex, Isipatana v St. Anthony’s at Havelock Park, Dharmaraja v Kingswood at Bogambara
May 23: Prince of Wales v S. Thomas’ at Royal Sports Complex
May 29: Isipatana v Royal at Longden Place, St. Peter’s v Kingswood at Bambalapitiya, St. Anthony’s v Trinity at Nittawela, Dharmaraja v S. Thomas’ at Bogambara, Wesley v Prince of Wales at Royal Sports Complex
June 4: St. Anthony’s v Prince of Wales at Nittawela, Dharmaraja v Wesley at Bogambara
June 5: Kingswood v Royal at Bogambara, Isipatana v Trinity at Longden Place, S. Thomas’ v St. Peter’s at Mount Lavinia
June 12: Royal v Trinity at Royal Sports Complex, S. Thomas’ v Kingswood at Mount Lavinia, Isipatana v Prince of Wales at Havelock Park, St. Peter’s v Wesley at Bambalapitiya, St. Anthony’s v Dharmaraja at Nittwela
June 18: Dharmaraja v Isipatana at Bogambara
June 19: St. Anthony’s v St. Peter’s at Nittawela, Kingswood v Wesley at Bogambara, Trinity v Prince of Wales at Pallekelle, S. Thomas’ v Royal at Royal Complex.

DailyNews - April 16th 2010

Isipatana - strong contender for League Title

Isipatana College with no less than 12 coloursmen in their ranks will be a strong contender for the schools under 20 division one league rugby title this year.
"This year we field a formidable outfit and our aim is to clinch the division one league title which has eluded us for several years," said the Chairman of Isipatana rugby, Hassan Singhawansa.
"We have a powerful set of forwards and a speedy set of three quarters and our aim is to win the league title and make amends for our disappointing display last year, said Singhawansa.
Isipatana finished fifth in last year's league and went down fighting to S. Thomas by 21-22 in the Milo knock-out final.
This year the lads from Havelock Town will be led by centre Ashan Gallage and will have the services of seasoned campaigners deputy skipper Tharindu Siriwardena (No. 8), flankers Deshanth Subashana, Sajid Suhayb, lock forward Muksheed Kuthdoos, prop Danushka Suriyarachchi, scrum half Mohamed Rizwan, fly half Prasad Devinda, centre Mohamed Ali, wingers Yuresh Fonseka and Prashan Attanayake and full back Malik Jamath.
The Isipatanians are training hard under the watchful eyes of their coaches Shamly Nawaz and Sajith Mallikarachchi with Tavou Alailima as the fitness trainer. But the Isipatanians will face a strong challenge from St. Peter's and S. Thomas.
The Peterites who won the Rugby Sevens title by overcoming Trinity in the final will be led by fly half Keith Gurusinghe and will have the services of coloursmen No. 8 Shenal Dias, prop forward Steve Nelson, scrum half Rizwan Meedin, centres Bhanuka Nanayakkara and Danushka Ranjan and fly half Anish Fernando.
The Peterites will clash with Isipatana in the curtain-raiser of the tournament at Havelock Park on April 24.
The star studded Thomian outfit led by No. 8 Rajindra Gunasekera will take on last year's division two champions Wesley College at Mount Lavinia on the same day.
The Thomians who will have the services of 12 senior players will have outstanding ruggerites of the calibre of Anuruddha Wilwara, Jeremy Fernando, Shehan Muthutantri and last year's skipper Shaveen Kapuwatte.
Trinity led by hooker Damith Dissanayake will lock horns with Dharmaraja at Pallekelle on April 24 while on the same day home town rivals Kingswood and St. Anthony's will clash at Nittawela.
Last year's champions Royal led by centre Duminda Attygalle will play host to Prince of Wales at the Royal Sports Complex on April 24.

DailyNews, April 12th 2010

Isipatana-Peterite clash in curtain-raiser

Isipatana College led by centre Ashan Galage will confront St. Peter's College, Colombo in the curtain-raiser of the schools under 19 division one rugby tournament at Havelock Park on April 24.
The Peterites who won the Rugby Sevens title will be led by fly half Rizwan Meedin and will also have the services of players of the calibre of Rizwan Meedin, Bhanuka Nanayakkara, Danushka Ranjan and Sri Lanka Youth player Shenal Dias.
The Peterites who lost last year's match by 10-22 will go all out to avenge the defeat by overcoming Isipatana in this year's game.
On the same day the strong S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia led by No. 8 Rajindra Gunasekera will play host to Wesley College at Mount Lavinia.
The Thomians who field a star studded team including 12 coloursmen will go out favourites against Wesley who have been promoted into Division One this year.

Dailynews - April 10th 2010.

Team 2010 's Grit No Match For All Stars Flair

It could be termed as the most powerful old boys team ever to play against the present team in the recent past and they certainly maintained that tag to their set standards when they completely outplayed the 2010 xv 49 points ( 2 goals, 7 tries ) to 10 ( 1 goal, 1 penalty ) in the Annual Isipathana college present vs old boys rugby encounter played at worked off at Havelock park.
The game which saw a virtual CR and FC back division including 5 former captains of our college, Nimesh De Silva ( 2003 ) , Ashan De Costa ( 2006 ) , Damith Udayangana ( 2007 ) , Dinusha Chaturanga ( 2008 ) and last years captain Niroshan Fernando taking part in addition to some star players with the likes of Rizah Mubarak, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Wishwamithra Jayasinghe and Lasintha De Costa and dhanushka botheju got off to flying start with the present boys trying to take controll from the start. They got the scoreboard rolling when Prasad devinda put over penalty from the 22. However the lead lasted just 10 minutes as the all stars got their act together and scored when fly half Niroshan Fernando powered his way for a try which was converted by Mubarak. Five minutes later havelocks flanker Ruwan Saranga scored to make it 12-3 for the All Stars.the second chucker proved to be a 1 sided affair where the All stars goin on a scoring spree with Dinesh Kumara, Ravin Romesh and Dinusha Chathuranga scoring to give the All Stars a commanding 27-3 lead At the start of the 3rd chucker the All stars got off to a flying start with the Costa brothers and Wishwamithra jayasinghe touching down for tries and N.Fernando making a glorious conversion for one of them to make it 44-03.however the present boys got their act together in the latter stages and were rewarded with a try when second rower Muqsith Jaleel sent out a neat short pass for Saajid Shuaib to score under the posts with Devinda making the easy conversion. The 4th chucker ended with Srinath Sooriyabandara sidestepping his way for a brilliant try to end the match 49 points to 10For the All Stars Niroshan Fernando and the Costa brothers were outstanding while the former along with Wishwamithra Jayasinghe kept their fellow opponents at bay with some bone jarring tackles.for the Team of 2010 the forwards especially Muqsith Jaleel, Saajid shuaib, flanker Deshan Subashan and No 08 and skipper for the day Tharindu Siriwardane stood out while the three,s who were minus skipper Ashan Gallage and winger Shanak Poornage simply couldn’t settle down in the match as they were under tremendous pressure from the All Stars back division. The positives which the present boys could take are that they tackled well despite letting down 9 tries and they seem to have reduced the amount of mistakes. However it would be back to the drawing board for Shamly Nawaz and Sajith Mallikaarchi and their boys ahead of their other pre season friendly game against C.W.W Kannangara which is scheduled to be played on the 2nd of April.

Isipathana Online Information Center - www.isipathanaonline.info

Costa brothers are all set to ignite the rugby field

The de Costa brothers - Lasintha and Ashan - are a much sought out duo on the rugby field these days. The brothers are the best set of centre three-quarters in the island and their performance for the CR&FC alone speaks volumes of their speed and skills.

Hailing from Isipathana the pair played together for the ‘Green shirts’ in 2004 under the watchful eyes of Sanath Martis. In 2005 and 2006 former Sri Lanka skipper Hisham Abdeen, himself an Old Boy of Isipathana, coached their rugby team. That year Isipathana emerged Schools Seven-a-side champions and were placed second in the League.

Lasintha too came under the expert tutelage of Sanath Martis from 2002 to 2004 as a fly half and fullback until Sanath Martis sought greener pastures with St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya as their coach.

Ashan joined CR in 2007 and the Longden Place Club knowing well his talents fitted him as a centre and he did extremely well to catch the eyes of the Rugby Selectors and was an automatic choice for the Hong Kong Sevens. That year CR was coached by Laga, the Fijian coach, who later went on to train Kandy SC.

Before that Ashan represented Sri Lanka at the Doha Sevens and was the only schoolboy to be included in the National team.

Ashan says that he acquired his rugby skills and knowledge at Isipathana and polished them after joining CR&FC. Lasintha - the quieter of the two - before becoming a blazing center for the CR and the National team - worked as a layout designer for the Wijeya Newspapers. He recalls his days at Wijeya Newspapers with a lot of satisfaction and immediately went on to inquire about his old colleagues.

Both brothers were full of praise for CR’s vibrant President Jehan Canageratnam and coaches Bilal Yusuf and Viraj Prasanna. They were quite saddened by the state of Sri Lanka’s international rugby exposure and hoped that the AGM would be held soon and they will be able to play rugby at international level soon. “Gaining foreign exposure is very important for rugby. Otherwise we are like frogs in a well,” they said in unison.

Speaking about CR&FC’s chances in rugby this year they said that they too were fed up by playing second fiddle to Kandy SC and were just rearing to get their hands on the Kandy team. Kandy watch out!
According to them the CR team is a fine blend of youth and experience. “CR will be a good strong side. They are being put through their phases by Bilal and Viraj. They are physically and mentally tough,” said the brothers in unison.

Both are attached to MAS Holdings, a firm that is giving all possible breaks to sportsmen and women in the country.

SundayTimes 14th Feb, 2010