Kingswood Singer League Champs - earns trip to Malaysia!

By Shamseer Jaleel

RUGBY: The lads from Randles Hill were out on a mission this season. They were second to the Petrites in the last 2 years in the Singer League. This was enough for them.

They ended the two-year drought when the young outfit led by Sri Lanka Youth Player Gayan Rathnage lifted the trophy last Sunday when they beat Trinity College 12-5 in the Singer League Under 20 final played in front of a packed Bogambara Stadium in Kandy.

For all the hard work put in by the team, the Kingswoodians are to be amply rewarded and they will be given a trip to Malaysia for all the hard work done during the season.

The match against St. Peter’s more than a final and there were reasons several reasons for this. Kingswood was the first institution to start rugby football in the country way back in 1906.

The other important factor is that these are the first two schools to battle it out in the initial schools game which ended in a 6 a piece draw. Gayan Rathnage had 10 senior players in his rank this year with Roshan Weeraratne as his deputy Gayan led the side by example.

His defence as well as attack along with exemplary leadership qualities, helped the Randles Hill school to clinch the trophy after a lapse of two years.

The ‘Kings’ of schools rugby started their season with a tough opener. They beat Royal 13-7 in Kandy. Their only defeat came in their second outing when they were beaten by the defending champions St. Peter’s College 15-7. But with this, the lads were more focused and re-grouped as per their coach Nilfer Ibrahim.

Kingswood won all the matches thereafter. They started their winning streak by defeating Vidyartha 67-0, S. Thomas 29-7, St. Anthony’s 19-12, Isipathana 6-3, Dharmaraja 26-9 and ended with a win over Trinity in their last league game.

The outfit was coached by the former Kingswoodian and national player Nilfer Ibrahim. He is no stranger to the oval shaped ball game. His elder brother Ronny coached Kingswood before him.

All his five brothers played rugby at school level with Roy (1982), Ronny (1986) and Rinny (1989) leading the college teams. He is also the first cousins of Amjad Buksh, Ansar Buksh, Dev Anand and present Kandy SC player Fazil Marija. Nilfer played from 1993-96 at school level.

He started his coaching stint with Rajans where he produced a champion outfit in 2007 later they got promoted to the top division in 2008. Then he crossed over to his alma mater this year and in his very first year they clinched the league. He is also the present Kandy Sports Club Sevens coach winning both sevens tournaments this year.

The sad story for the rugby loving public and the Old Boys of Kingswood is that they will not participate in the President’s Trophy under 20 games which will commence shortly. This is due to most of their players taking up Advanced Level Examination.

Last but not the least, the head of the institution Ranjith Chandrasekera was behind Kingswood rugby in a big way once more, which helped their success.