One of the finest schoolboy ruggerites of the 1980’s and the 1984 Bradby Shield winning Royal College Captain Sampath Agalawatte died on Wednesday after a prolonged illness and his funeral took place on the same day according to his wishes.
Agalawatte started his rugby career in 1981 by playing for the Royal under 17 team and graduated into the first XV in 1982 under the leadership of Hiran Muttiah playing as full back.
In 1983 he shifted to the fly half position and played a key role in Royal’s success. He helped the school captained by Sriyan Cooray to regain the Gunaratne Trophy by firing across two 30 metre penalties in the last five minutes to give Royal a 18-14 win over S. Thomas’. Then playing in the centenary match against Trinity at Longden Place which was graced by the donor of the shield former Royal Principal E L Bradby he put over two 35 metres penalties and with the try scored by prop forward Lalith Samarawickrema Royal scored a historic 10-6 win although Trinity won the Bradby Shield by virtue of their 14-6 win in the first leg played at Bogambara.
In 1984 Royal led by Sampath Agalawatte had a marvellous season by ending up as joint unofficial schools rugby champions with Isipathana remaining unbeaten during the season and also went on to clinch the schools rugby sevens title by beating St. Peters’ College by 22-4 in the final. Playing in the Bradby Shield first leg against Trinity at Longden Place he put over two match winning penalties to give Royal a 6-3 win and the return match played at Bogambara ended in a nil-all draw which helped Royal to wrest back the Bradby Shield after four years.
He was rewarded with the Captaincy of the Colombo Schools Team in the Noel Gratiaen Cup match against Outstation Schools led by Thomian Asanga Seneviratne which they lost 10-6. After the season the Royal Rugby Team toured Bangkok Thailand and played two matches in which they beat King’s College Bangkok (21-12) and were beaten by Vajiravudh College Bangkok (0-45).
The champion Royal rugby team of 1984 comprised Sampath Agalawatte (captain), Lalith Samarawickreama, Mahil Kuragama, Sanjaya Sigera, Duminda Senaratne, Chiro Nanayakkara/Amith Sumanapala, Janaka Lenaduwa, Ajith Weeratunge, Mahendra Nawaratnam, Jehan CanagaRatne, Feroze Suhayb, Ajith Gunasekera, Krishan George, Kimal Ousmand and Ahmed Cader.
He was also a fine Athlete and a Basketball player. After leaving school he played club rugby for Kandy SC (one match) and the Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club.
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