Kingswood out to redeem themselves

At one time Kingswood College proved to be one of the most promising outfits among the rugby playing schools. This school’s forte has always been rugby. With the facilities that Kingswood College enjoys its high time they produced one more champion team and add that feat to their rugby history.

They were the first school to play rugby in Sri Lanka, at that time they were known as Kandy Boys High School and it was in 1898 that the name Kingswood College was introduced.

The founder of the school is an old Trinitian L.E. Blaze who introduced the game. He learnt the game of rugby and the rules of rugby when he was teaching in India, and it was in 1893 Kingswood became the first school in Sri Lanka to start rugby. They have produced some outstanding players over the years.

Their first inter-school rugby match was against Trinity College in 1906, the game ended in a draw at the Bogambara grounds. The following year they gave up the game and didn’t reintroduce the sport till the 1970s.

In the past wherever Kingswood plays, their players have exhibited the skills needed for rugby. If one goes down memory lane in the annals of Kingwood rugby, an interesting statistic dots its rugby records. In 1981 they emerged B Division champions under coach Z.M. Zarook.

That year they won the Tyrell Muttiah Trophy and were promoted to ‘A’ Division. Nineteen eighty-eight marks one of the finest years in their school’s rugby when under the captaincy of Malik Weerasinghe they won nine matches out of eleven.

Sad to say this time they lost their first fixture to Royal College. They are hoping for an improved performance in the rest of the first round matches. They are blessed with a talented set of players and they have robust forwards and a speedy set of three quarters and should finish among the first five teams. This time they are in Division 1 - Segment – IA. Rest of the matches are against S. Thomas’ (19th), Trinity (24th), St. Anthony’s (7th April), St. Joseph’s (20th) in the first round.

In the opening game played in Colombo they had a difficult task of facing the Royalist, mainly in the second half of the game. They also had limited match practice, but still came out with an encouraging performance in the first half.

Dinesh Gamage a product of the school, who helped the under 18 team to win the championship few years back will continue as coach. He did a good job last season. He has been with the Kingswoodians for quite a sometime, from junior coaching. Indunil Wickramasinghe will assist him. Both these coaches are all-out to give their best and keep the team on top in rugby.

The squad: G.G.R.L. Chandraratne (Loose Head), H.M.C.B. Herath (Hooker), D.G.M.S. Weerasinghe (Tight Head), W.C.S. Zoysa (Locks), C.H. Gunasekarara (Locks), B.W.A. Poornajith (Flanker), R.G.J.H. Rajanayake (Flanker), G.H.M.S.C. Gedaragoda (No. 8), R.M.D.N. Gunathilake (Scrum Half), W.A. Seneviratne (Outside Half), Thumula Dilshan Waligampola (Wing), Tharindu Dilshan Waligampola (Center), M. Shazan (Center), S.M.S.B. Seneviratne (Wing), K.D.S. Ekanayake (Full Back), T.I. Jaleel - Reserve (Prop), P.W.G.D.A. Wijesundara – Reserve (Prop), D.G.S.V. Ranatunga – Reserve (Hooker), A.M.N.B. Bandara – Reserve (2nd/3rd Row), T.M.K.M. Tennakoon - Reserve (2nd/3rd Row), B.W.H.N. Sampath (Scrum Half), D.P.V. Athukorala (Center/Three-Q), I.M.Insham Reserve (Full Back), A.W.G.H.N. Seneviratne – Reserve, S.A.Wijesinghe - Reserve. Master In Charge - Kosala Devage, Dinesh Gamage - head coach and Indunil Wickramasinghe - assistant coach.

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.