Dhanushka the athlete turned ruggerite

Chris Dhambarage

He was a bright athlete during the early days and showed promise of turning out to be a champion in the sprint events. But instead of enduring his career in track and field he chose to become a ruggerite and one of the fastest centre three quarters in the current season. Seventeen year old Danushka Ranjan of St. Peter’s College has already made a huge impact with his sheer brilliance in the ongoing Singer inter school under 20 Division I League tournament.

His latest heroics came last week when he completed a hat-trick of tries in the important match against Trinity College Kandy at the Pallekele Stadium. The Peterites were able to avenge their last year’s defeat while recording a convincing 31 points to 10 points victory at the end.

Danushka was responsible for three of their four tries as St. Peter’s College went on to register back to back victories following their triumph against Isipatana College.

He left his mark in their opening match against Isipatana also where he scored a fantastic try after covering nearly 85 metres. This was of course his second season with St. Peter’s College having moved from Piliyandala Central.

He was able to make an impact in his very first year where he scored a total of 16 tries from 12 matches. This included four tries against their traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College and a similar effort against Mahanama College.

Incidentally his performance against St. Joseph’s College last year is considered as one of his best because they went into the game under tremendous pressure and at the backdrop of some uncertainty.

Altogether St. Peter’s College did not have a great season last year but Danushka was able to make his presence felt in almost every outing. He joined the Bambalapitiya School two years ago after having learnt the basics of the game from his first coach Preethi Kumara and Hasantha at Piliyandala Central.

He then came under the guidance of senior coach Sanath Martisz who along with the assistant coach Colin Denish have been able to transform his career and opened the path for a bright future.

Dhanushka believed that the early preparations and the acclimatizing to the conditions were the main reasons for their morale boosting victory against Trinity College Kandy. In fact the Peterites left to Kandy four days prior to their game and were involved in a series of training sessions at Peradeniya.

He stated that the third try was probably his best in the match where he mesmerized the opposition through a nice chip kick before touching down following a 15 meter dash.

Meanwhile assistant coach and spokesman for St. Peter’s rugby Colin Denish stated that Danushka is a talented ruggerite who is always willing to learn from his mistakes.

“I think he is a very strong lad and every given opportunity he wants to improve in rugby skills. And also studies wise he has got good colours in his ordinary levels. He is very good in studies too. His speciality as second centre is that he has a tremendous sprint.

Another thing is that he has the will to score. Each given time the ball he wants to score all the time. Even if the ball goes to the in goal area he wants to score. In his own ability wise he wants to score a try”.

Dhanushka has been a great asset for Peterites ever since he joined the school and has contributed immensely with some splendid tries both at home and away. “The eye catching try that he scored for me was last year where he scored a 90 meter try against Isipatana and this year again he ran almost 85 meters on his own, side stepped more than six players and there was nobody who could stop him.

The other advantage for him is that he has a strong hand off and he ran on his own with the entire Isipatana defence standstill. It was a tremendous try that also made a huge impact overall for the entire side”.

Colin Denish said that the performance against Trinity College was a breathtaking one where he turned the game in their favor almost single handedly.

“Against Trinity College also he scored a 60 meter try on his own. That was a brilliant effort where he side stepped and scored before his opponents could even tap him. He side stepped almost the entire back line but unfortunately he could not score under the post and went on to add the finishing touches near the corner flag”.

Colin Denish believes that Dhanushka has all the ingredients to last the full distance and to come out with flying colors as a brilliant center three quarter.

“For him to improve and become a top class ruggerite he has to put on a little more weight. He is still a young boy of only 17 years and is currently working hard in the gym these days. He will certainly do well for the school and is also turning out to be a future Sri Lankan star”.