Viper Gunaratne back to coach Antonians

by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen

Nihal "Viper" Gunaratne popularly known as Viper Junior will take over the coaching of St. Anthony's College rugby for the forthcoming school season.

Gunaratne is no stranger to St. Anthony's College as he played all his rugby for the school and even captained it in his final year. He has also coached the school previously.

He played for Kandy Sports Club as a flanker in the late 1970s up to the eighties and at one time was the coach cum player of the Nittawela Club. A much feared tackler he was an automatic choice for the national team during his playing days having also turned out for the Upcountry club and captained it too.

Gunaratne is a level 3 IRB qualified coach and at one time functioned as Coach Educator of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union conducting courses for rugby referees.

Meanwhile Priyantha Gunaratne will coach the Under-16 team which is an important area before the players pass on to the senior team.

Priyantha Gunaratne has already shown results as his team won the Central Province and all island Under-16 championship titles this year under Theekshana Gunasinghe.

Under the guidance of Nihal Gunaratne and Priyantha Gunaratne it is hoped the Antonians would do well or better than the foreign coach who handled the team two years ago.