Rohitha Rajapaksa creates history - third brother to captain S. Thomas’ at rugby

By Shamseer Jaleel

RUGBY: Rohitha Rajapaksa, the youngest son of the sporty President of the country Mahinda Rajapaksa, will not only be the captain of the Thomian outfit this year, but also the young lad will create history when he writes his name in the record books at S. Thomas’. This will be the first time that three brothers have led the Thomian side in rugby.

Earlier his elder brother Namal (2005) and later Yoshitha (2006) led them with much pride. In another unique feature, all three of them have represented the National Youth side at the Junior Asiad. Unfortunately the two elder brothers gave up rugby after leaving school. Pack leader Rohitha Rajapaksa will have five other coloursmen in the side and will have Devaan Hallock as his deputy. The other seniors in the side are: Ramesh Perera, Shavin Kapuwatte, Heshan Gunaratne and Manjith Thamanagama.

The Thomians opened their Singer League Division 1-A tournament against St. Anthony’s whom they beat 14-10. Their next encounter will be against the Peterites for the Archibald Perera Memorial Trophy on May 3 at Mount Lavinia.

The Thomian team is coached by the former Kingswood fly-half Ronny Ibrahim who moulded the Kingswood outfit to be a champion side. He lost only two games, winning more than forty. Under the watchful eyes of Ronny and ably supported by Chandrishan Perera (Motivator) and Physical and Strength Trainer Mothilal Jayatilleke they are out to regain lost pride in their school rugby history.

Thomian Rugby Pool for 2008: Rohitha Rajapaksa (Capt), Devaan Hallock, Ramesh Perera, Shaveen Kapuwatte, Heshan Gunaratne, Manjith Thammanagama, Savith Kalupathirana, Niluk Wickramatilake, Janith Jayasuriya, Neomal Cabraal, Dinuka Ranasinghe, Jeewaka Hewavitharana, Yasas Subasinghe, Asanga Rodrigo, Tariq Jayasuriya, Sandeep Jayawardena, Asela Kohona, Roshanka Kodituwakku, Rajindra Gunasekara, Amrick Andrado, Ranshan Gomez, Mishel Algama, Manoharan Arjun, Avantha Jayasinghe, Ashan Adolphus, Jeremy Fernando, Anjula de Silva, I. B. H. Pilapitiya, Vivienne Rudra, Shehan Thahir and Ramindra Deshapriya. Remaining fixtures for 2008: 3 May vs St. Peters in Colombo, 9 May vs Dharmaraja in Kandy, 17 May vs Trinity in Kandy, 24 May vs Kingswood in Colombo, 31 May vs Isipathana in Colombo, 7 June vs Vidyartha in Colombo, 14 June vs St. Joseph’s in Colombo and 21 June vs Royal in Colombo.