‘Though we play by the tag – underdogs, I can’t wait to get hold of the trophy’ says Shan Weerakkodi, the captain of St. Peter’s rugby team, as he met with Thepapare team.
Rugby may seem like a violent game played by oversize bruisers, but battling as underdogs the 2013 Under 20 rugby squad of St. Peter’s College hopes to bring victory through unity and balanced playing. They been gearing up for this rugby season since last September and now they are at a steady start winning the first All Island rugby tournament for year 2013. St. Peter’s boasts of a strong rugby side not only for the Under 20 age category but also for the Under 18 age category. Even Under 18 team won the first all island championship in 2013.
With the dawn of new millennium St. Peter’s College has reached many milestones. 2001 Petes under Dilan Abeygoonewardena won the all Island 7’s Championship and then in 2002 under Dilanka Wijesekera St. Peter’s won the League Championship which was followed by the double championship for the first time of the knockout & league under the captaincy of Harendra Ariyawardena in 2006 and in 2007 they were the unbeaten double champions under Ranuka Jayasinghe who lead the team for these victories in their 75th Year of Golden Jubileee. In 2008 Poornaka Delpachitra marshaled the Petes to their 3rd consecutive Knockout Championship and St. Peter’s reached the pinnacle by being the Unbeaten triple champions in 2010 where they were gifted with star players like , Captain Keith Gurunsinghe, Shenal Dias, Sandun Herath and many more who even have passed on the St. Peter’s Rugby glory to a national level.
“This year there aren’t any players playing under the spotlight; last year I was mainly focusing on key rugerites and it was a great advantage” are the words of Collin Dinesh Peter. Collin is known to be a game changer who captained St. Peter’s College Ruby team in 1989. He took over from the legendary coach Santha Martis. Today Collin is making sure the true sense of the sport remain under his scrutiny. “I brought in Thusith Peris as the assistant coach giving him the opportunity work along with the college legacy. He hadn’t let me down with my decision yet” adds the coach as he speaks about the lessons he learnt from the previous season. Last year the Peter’s Rugby team ran into trouble with some of the leading players getting injured in early matches; however, this time Collin has his full attention on injury management. Further, Peterites always invest on quality over quantity. Making the true sense of the words the coach is also concerned about not over tiring the players though he takes every single match seriously.
The St. Peter’s approach to the season is very opening minded. The game plan may vary according to the first few performances. The assistant coach notes how vague an impression do they have about the St. Anthony’s College, who they are about to take at first. “The overall spin in the tactics are experimental till we witness the first few games” says Thusith. However he explains the objectives are clear “We want to bring back the past glory to college. 2000s had been amazing so far and another triumph only can make it better ”
All in all St. Peter’s is a leading rugby legend since 1932 as one of the first schools to start rugby. Since then they’ve always been making history on so many levels; To name a few from early era of Archibald Perera, Percy Perera, Ago Paiva, Didacus De Almeida, Darrel Wimalaratne, Jeff De Jong, Frank Hubert, Roshan Deen, Angelo Wickramaratne, Rowen Gunasekera to modern eras of Ranuka Jayasinghe, Keith Gurusinghe and Danushka Ranjans Peterites have produced brilliant teams and players of high calibre. For example, the highest try scorer is from St. Peter’s, Mr. Mohammed Rinaz with 33 tries. That legacy of collective calamity, that school status, and the general primacy of the teams over the decades will further fuel hopes and expectations that once again rugby shield will come back to St. Peter’s College.
Flyhalf – Shan Weerakkody(Captain)
Hooker – Shenal Abesekara, Senal Aponsu, Devin Rathnasinghe
Prop – Johanne Rodrigo, UdaraAnjana, Priyantha Fernando, Udara Anjana
2nd Row – Senura Premewardana, Timothy Alles, Gihan Fernando, Maleesha Rakapaksha, Niraj Gunashinghe.
Flanker – Malith Magage, Nishon Perera, Senura Premawardana, Frank Roger, Dino Perera
Number 8 – Anuradha Herath
Scrum half – Avishka Heenpelle, Shehan Desitha
Center – Dilanka Perera, Deshan Perera
Wing – Shallon Direx, Akila Runchagoda,Shallon Dirckze
Full Back – Kevin Dixon, Steve Dharmarathna
