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

Isipathana - under 12 rugby champions

The Isipathana ‘A’ under 12 showed their class in rugby, by beating the formidable Trinity College Kandy by 14 points (2 goals) to nil in the All Island under 12 10-a side tournament staged at the Royal Sports Complex recently.
This tournament was played for the first time inviting all schools in the Island which was organized by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA).
The Pathana lads played a grand game and planted two tries by T. Shamil and Diluka Widuranga before lemons.
After the turn around the Trinity lads played admirably to prevent Pathanians crossing the try line.
The Pathanians were able to do all their scorings before half time.
More than 450 participants from 28 leading schools in Sri Lanka took part in this inaugural tournament which was sponsored by Nestle Lanka Ltd.,
The chief guest was Mohan H. De Silva (Brand Manager Nestle Lanka Ltd., while the guest of honour was Dr. K.A.D. Punyadasa (President SLSRFA).
Kumar Rodrigo (Secretary) and A.K.B. Dodanwela (Treasurer) also graced the occasion.
The highlight of the day was, the performance by Maliga Gunaratne of Mahanama College Colombo 3, who planted 12 tries in the entire tournament.
Results: Cup - Isipathana ‘A’ College beat Trinity College Kandy, 14 points to nil. Plate:- Wesley College beat Isipathana ‘B’ 7 points to nil. Bowl - Mahanama College beat Dudley Senanayake M.V. Col. 5, 29 points to nil. Shield - Vidyartha College Kandy, beat Lalith Athulathmudali M.V. 7 points to nil.
The final was officiated by Asela Muthumala.

DailyNews - November 3rd, 2009

'' U - 16 '' Rugby Western Province Knockout ..........!!

Isipathana U-16 boys kicked off their official tournament fixture by emerging joint champs at the Western Province Knockout Tournament played Yesterday at the Royal Complex.

We met Royal at the final and the score were 7 All at the long whistle.