Omar belongs to a bunch of superlative number 8s

Sharm de Alwis

Haris Omar belongs to a bunch of superlative number 8s who have been churned out by Trinity on a regular basis and some of them have been Noel Brohier, Byron Fernando, Janaka and Dasarath Kiridena, Tyrrel Rajapakse, Sean Wanigaskera, Ayaz Deen and Rajive Aluvihare who were genuine articles to have come off the conveyor belt. They were all Rugby Lions and Haris Omar was "the last of the Mohicans".

Rugger had Haris in its grip from the time he was nine years of age but that is not a significant phenomenon because Trinity boys play rugger with a slipper for a ball even when they are in the Matron's dormitory.

Haris was in the Sri Lanka rugby teams even as he came out of school. He showed prodigious skills and vigour from the time he was in the U15 and U17 outfits before he captained the Trinity 1st XV in 1995.He stood out like a beacon in attack as well as in defence with his quick breaks and awesome thrusts. He has been the country's best number 8 after Priyantha Ekanayake.

He played for the country from 1996 to 2002 and his signatured runs would be with the elbow thrust out like a weapon of combat.The gem of skill and craft was cut and polished by Quentin Israel who was arguably the best coach of schools rugby who gift wrapped Haris for Nimal Leuke of Kandy Sports to add to the lustre.

From his early years he was ear-marked as another Hisham Abdeen, the Bionic player who took the rugby scene by storm with his power play in the 80s. The three players who would take a game by the scruff of its neck and turn it around when the side was in deficit have been Hisham Abdeen, Michael Jayasekera and Chandrishan Perera..Self-effacing, with a boyish smile, he has never had a scowl on his face even when in the fray and he abides by his mother's words of tutelage, "Stalks of paddy when ripe, bend low towards the ground" to which I would add Lord Halifax's "True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes."

But the Omars are of a tough breed. Father, himself, is a Trinity Rugger Lion.

Haris was conditioned by the stern Boarding life he had to endure even though his parents lived two miles away in Kandy.

A knee injury sustained in the 1998 ASIAD in Singapore and aggravated in '99 in the Hong Kong Sevens made him go for premature retirement at the same age as Kavan Rambukwella. Kavan retired when he was no longer enjoying the game with tree defenders stalking his moves. The correction of Haris' injury cost AU$ 150,000 of which the Australian authorities graciously waived $6,000. when they realised that the SLRFU was not giving Haris any financial assistance.

Dilip Kumar and Jayantha Weerasinghe, two Old Trinitians together with Siri Kannangara, Chanaka Wijesekera and Bruce Warrick helped him in Australia.

When he hung up his boots SL Rugger felt the impact like the Fall of Rome. Even now there is no worthy successor to bear the flame he lit and the scene is a throw back to Mrs B's regime when only spurious products were available in the marketplace.

Haris who works as Accounts Manager at MAS Holdings scrums down now with SCRUMMAGE for the upliftment of Trinity rugger.