Trinity open rugby season vs Isipathana
by Shamseer Jaleel
RUGBY: Trinity College, Kandy will be out for the first time this
season on April 26 in Colombo when they lock horns with the hard-working
Isipathana College.
Trinity, after having a mixed season in 2007, will be looking out for
an improved performances this year. Trinity is the only institution to
start and continue this sports without any stoppage from 1906. Rugby is
a passion at Trinity and it is a way of life at Trinity.
Though these youngsters represent their alma-mater only a few
continue with game. After leaving school, most of the youngsters go for
higher studies abroad or take up planting as a career. But with Kandy
Sports Club picking up in the last decade or so, more youngsters are
continuing their rugby career at club level and from there to the
national level.
Trinity is one of the schools which produced most number of national
players. If one takes up records for the last two decades there are few
players come to my memory where they did excel for Trinity.
Tyrel Rajapakse, Imthisam Marrikar, Shah Dole, Thushara Weerasuriya,
Duminda de Silva, Suranga Amarasinghe, Sean Wijesinghe, Rajiv Ganapathy,
Harris Omar, Pradeep Basnayake, Dilip Selvam, B. N. R. Fernando and
Saliya Kumara are few names that come to mind. "Lions produced the best
out fit in 1987 under Tyrel Rajapakse where they remained unbeaten both
in the league and knock-outs.
They went on to win the league and knock-out then called the
Premadasa Trophy. Their line was crossed only once in the whole season.
This year, once again Trinity will be taking part in the Schools 'A'
division. The good news for the side is that they will be travelling to
Colombo only on two occasions, once for the 'Bradby' and the other for
their opener against Isipathana and this will be an acid test for the
boys.
Trinity will be led by hardy Milinda Gunawardena. He is the only
coloursman in the side. A pool of nearly 45 players are under constant
training at Asgiriya. |