Several Sri Lanka under 20 ruggerites to play for clubs

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

Several ruggerites who represented the Sri Lanka under 20 team in the Youth Rugby Asiad in Brunei in December will turn out for clubs in the 2008 rugby season.

The skipper of the Sri Lanka youth rugby team Gayan Weeraratne along with Antonians Roshan Wijesiri, Kusal Rankothge and Sashika Jayawardena will turn out for the champion Kandy Sports Club this year.

Wesleyite Zaffer Jahn (who excelled in Brunei) along with Sri Lanka under-20 prop forward Sathya Ranatunge from Trinity will don the CH and FC jersey in the forthcoming rugby season.

Sri Lanka under 20 full back Reza Mubarak (who stood out for the youth team in Brunei) will play for the CR and FC along with Sri Lanka under 20 lock forward Thilina Bulner and his Peterite team-mate Samson Roy.

The Red Shirts have also obtained the services of Dev Anand and Thilina Manoj (both of whom represented the Sri Lanka under 19 team at the Youth Rugby Asiad in Chinese Taipei in 2006).

Wesley and Sri Lanka under 20 prop forward Andrew Jegan along with former Peterite and Sri Lanka under 19 fly half Irfath Meedin and skipper of the champion 2007 Peterite rugby team Ranuka Jayasinghe will turn out for Havelocks Sports Club this year.

The Sri Lanka under 20 team led by Gayan Weeraratne gave a superb display at the Youth Rugby Asiad in Brunei in which they finished third with a smashing 43-0 win over Malaysia in the third place play off having beaten Thailand by 12-6 and went down fighting to mighty Hong Kong 0-6 in their group matches.

It was Sri Lanka youth team’s forwards who played a key role in their success with Bilal Hassen, Zaffer Jahn, Sean Wanigasekera, Thilina Bulner, Ishan Noor and Poornaka Delpachitra giving a terrific display to outplay their bigger made counterparts in the loose.

Eight players of the youth team Ishan Noor, Poornaka Delpechitra, Harsha Weerakkody (all three from St. Peter’s), Bilal Hassan (Royal), Damith Udayanga, Dinusha Chathuranga (both from Isipatana), Thilanga Gunatilleke (Dharmaraja) and Gayan Ratnage (Kingswood) will play for their schools this year too.