Gayan and Sashika join Kandy SC

RANJEEVA SENEVIRATNE

Last year’s triple champions Kandy Sports Club have obtained the services of two outstanding ruggerites - last year’s Kingswood skipper Gayan Ratnage and Antonian number eight Sashika Jayawardena for the 2009 rugby season.

Both of them turned out for the Sri Lanka under 20 team at the Youth Rugby Asiad in South Korea in November last year and their presence should bolster the Kandy SC team which has been strengthened by the inclusion of two top players - CR and FC and Sri Lanka centre Mohamed Sheriff and last year’s Isipatana, CH and FC and Sri Lanka flanker Sajith Saranga.

This year they will be aiming to retain the club rugby sevens title for a record eighth successive year at the inter-club rugby sevens which will be worked off at Nittawela on February 7 and 8 and at Longden Place on February 28 and March 1.

Kandy SC first won the Rugby Sevens title in 1999 by beating CR and FC by 12-5 in the final but surrendered the title to Havelocks in 2000 and 2001 but regained it in 2002.

Since then the lads from Kandy have reigned supreme in ‘Sevens’ rugby winning the title for seven years in a row.

Last year they clinched the Dialog Professional Sevens by crushing Army (55-7) and Air Force (41-12) in the finals played at Nittawela and Longden Place respectively.

In the previous year (2007) Kandy Sports Club bagged the Singer Professional Sevens with a smashing 28-5 win over CR and FC at Radella in the final and also won the Qi Professional Sevens at Longden Place with a 15-7 win over the Red Shirts in the final, with centre Pradeep Liyanage leading the champion teams in both years.

This year Sri Lanka fly half Fazil Marija has been entrusted with the task of leading the Kandy SC ‘Sevens’ team which is studded with national players - Saliya Kumara, Pradeep Liyanage, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Gayan Weeraratne, Sean Wijesinghe, Prasad Chathuranga, Mohamed Sheriff, Sajith Saranga and Sri Lanka Youth players Ratnage and Jayawardena.