Five Kandy Schools in Schools Under 20 top Segment

Trinity fields a freshers full side 

By Shamzeer Jaleel

Dialog Inter School Under 20 Segment 1 will kick off in less than two weeks with the leading 12 teams playing in two different groups. After their first round of five matches two top teams in each group will move forward to the second round and the winner will be decided. Kandy will have five teams locking horns in the 12 teams in total for the tournament.

The League knock out encounter too will be worked off among the top eight teams which will last for another two weeks. By mid-August the Inter School league and knockout encounters will come to an end giving the schoolboys ample time for their Advanced Level examinations in October.

The usual Kandy vs Colombo encounter played in two legs will be also worked off in order to select the national outfit for the Asia Rugby (AR) top four encounter which is scheduled to take place in Taipei during December. Hong Kong is the defending champion and the last two years this tournament was not worked off due to COVID pandemic around the globe. The winner of this event will represent Asian berth at the Junior World Rugby Tournament (JWRT) Division 1 which will take place in mid-2023 in a European country. Five Kandy Schools will be locking horns in the Segment A of the Inter Schools Rugby Under 20 tournament are Trinity, St. Anthony’s, Dharmaraja, Kingswood and Vidyartha.

Trinity College will be led by Lithmal Moragoda who is in his 4th year and has got some talented youngsters under his belt.  Lithmal will have Loshika Wijekoon as his deputy for the season. They have Kaveesha Edama, Kovida Wickremasinghe and Ataab Manzil in their outfit. The rest of the squad are made of freshers.

Trinity will host Thomians on 25 June at their Pallekele Rugby Stadium in their opening encounter which is played for Canon de Seram Trophy. Trinity is looked after by Kavinda Jayasena with Thusitha de Silva as his assistant with another Old Boy of the school Rajindra Gamage in as the Manager of the team. Pradeep Basnayake is the Consultant of the Trinity outfit.

St. Anthony’s College is led by Jeyan Amerasinghe as the skipper with Maliksha Perera as his deputy. The outfit is coached by former Vidyartha, Navy SC and national player Sumedha Malawena. Antonians will travel down to Colombo to play the defending league champions, Royal in their first outing.

Dharmaraja College will have co-captains Thenuka Wickremasignhe and Sawumya Wijesiri. They have got some outstanding seniors such as Dilshan Saanka, Ramida Ratnayake, Danuja Pathirana, Kasun Seneviratne and Anjana Ellegonna in Rajans outfit. Former Isipathana, CR and FC and national player Lasindu de Costa will Head the Coaching unit while Tharindu Ratnayake will manage the outfit at Rajans. They will play St. Peter’s away in their first encounter away in Colombo. Kingswood will open this year’s season with an away game against Joes in Colombo. Surprisingly Kingswood, a school that started rugby in the country, is yet to name the skipper of the side. They are coached by former Isipathana, Kandy SC and National player, Buddhika Thalagampola.

Vidyartha is the 5th team representing the Central Region in the top division. They are led by Arosh Ratnayake. They have Kavishka Wijeratne, Kaveesha Kaluarachchi and Kalana Sathsara as their senior players. The outfit’s Director of rugby is Ananda Kasthuriarachchi the former Kingswood and Kandy SC player and veteran and technically correct coach. The outfit will have Nalin Wijesinghe as their Head Coach with Anush Kolonne handling the Backs.