St. Peter’s are top dogs again

St. Peter’s have done it again. For the second year running they are on top of the Singer Schools Segment ‘A’ Division One inter-school rugby tournament. They put their hands firmly on the trophy by out playing Royal on Friday.

The boys from Bambalapitiya have one match which is against Ananda who have had a wretched season thus far. To expect Ananda to defeat the reigning champs would be akin to the sky falling on our heads (ala Asterix and Obelix). The only side that can spoil the Peterite party is Isipathana. But Isipathana will hope that Ananda will defeat St Peter’s. In addition Isipathana will need to score more than 15 tries and also play Royal and beat them – a fixture that is highly unlikely to take place.

Architect for the second year running behind the success of the Peterites is coach Sanath Martis and his team. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Martis said: “We had a fine team both on and off the field. My assistant Colin Dinesh did a fine job with with backs as did Shantha Dharmaratne, with our under 15 team and Shanaka Balasuriya with the under 13 and under 11 teams. Our fitness trainer D. U. M. Jayathileke did a fine job by keeping the players in shape both physically and mentally. In addition the administrators of the college led the Rector Fr. Travis Gabriel never said no to requests that we made. They did not even question why we wanted what we did. Old Peterite Viran Constatine got us a fantastic sponsorship from Suntel and the OBU president Suranga Seneviratne along with Trinesh Fernando, Mangala Dharmapriya and Ronnie Guneratne created the ideal environment for the team to perform. We started practicing from January, five days a week and all the hard work has paid off.”

Speaking about the team, Martis said: “Skipper Ranuka Jayasinghe is an inspirational leader. He does need to shout or command. The boys openly say they will always give 100 percent for the college and Jayasinghe. He was well supported by the two vice captains in Arjuna Bopitiya and Shanaka Gunewardene. We have a good set of forwards and backs. The frontline led by former Sri Lanka under 19 captain Haren Ariwardene did a fine job. He had great support from the likes of Boptiya, Ishan Noor, Sharu Fernando, Thilina Bulner, Poornika Delpachitra, Samdon Roy and Roshan Fonseka and Depachitra’s younger brother Dilanjan. In fact Bulner scored nine tries while Delpachitra senior is likely to captain the side.”

When asked about the backs and what the future holds, Martis said: “Jayasinghe was partnered by Irfath Meedin who also represented the Sri Lanka under 19 team. The two centers are Harsha Weerakkody who is also the place kicker and Dilshan Paul. Paul is very quick. He scored a 90 metre try against Wesley and ran about 50 metres to touch down against Royal. Shanaka Gunawardene was like a rock as full back while on the wings we had Vidanage Karunaratne and Gerald Kanoute. Kanoute started rugby only last year after we saw him play in an inter class tournament. He has a natural side step and is very difficult to tackle because no one can predict which way he will run. We call him ‘Fiji’ because he looks a bit like a Fijian. As for next year, there will be about eight players leaving. But we do have good replacements and will certainly attempt to win the league trophy again.”