With wins against the Air Force and the CH&FC, Sri Lanka Navy are well on the road to tackle bigger fish like the CR&FC and Kandy SC in the Clifford Cup A Division league rugby competition this year.
The rugby grounds of the Navy at Welisara are well maintained. Gone are the rugged and uneven patches. It looks a green baize. Navy will meet Kandy SC at Welisara on June 5. That is the game all rugby fans in Sri Lanka is waiting to see.
Today Navy faces another scorcher when they take on the CR&FC at Welisara.
Leading the team this year is Lt. (S) Ransith Peiris. The Sri Lanka Navy has been fighting to keep the game afloat in the past few years due to the cruel civil war which ravaged the island. In the midst of all this two die-hard Royalists - Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe and Bryan Baptist got their act together to uplift the game. Today Navy has emerged as a powerful force in rugby capable of toppling the top most teams in the island.
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| Rony Ibrahim (Coach) |
Ransith Peiris (Captain) |
Navy signaled their capabilities when they entered the Clifford Cup A and B knock-out finals in 1989.
This boosted the higher ups in the Navy hierarchy to pay more attention to rugby. A rugby nursery was launched and the rudiments of the game were taught by Bryan Baptist. Bryan taught the sailors to play hard and clean.
Open play was the order of the day. The senior officers rallied around. Past players like Harsha Mayadunne, H.K. Sisira and Thisara Samarasinghe gave the team full support. Today the sailors are a team to be reckoned with and capable of giving their opponents a good run for their money.
Several Navy players have turned out for the national team in recent times. Their motto is Navy before self. Players such as Sampath Peiris, Piyaratne, Fernando, Dabare, Panda Wijeratne, Bin Galiph and Ershad Bin Ali figured prominently in the past.
Navy skipped the A Division tournament from 2006 to 2008 but last year they bounced back under sub-lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa.His elder brother Namal too was a member of the team.
This year the three famous brothers - Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha - sons of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be playing rugby for Navy. All three of them have played for S. Thomas’. The team is coached by Ronnie Ibrahim, the former Thomian coach. Bryan Baptist is the consultant coach. Team manager is P.N.D. Kaluarachchi, Secretary Lt. Col. Halangoda and co-ordinator J.D. Amaranayake.
For the first time Navy will be sponsored by Capital Alliance.
Hassan in the eye of a storm
CR and FC’s fighting forward Bilal Hassan was at the centre of a rugby storm last evening.
A very senior officer of the Navy had contacted the President of the CR and FC Jehan Canageratnam and asked him, not to play Hassan in today’s key game against Navy at Welisara as the latter was an enlisted officer in the Navy volunteer force.
Hassan is a member of the Navy water-polo team. The CR and FC President admitted that he had received such a call, but, declined to elaborate the contents of it.
When the Sunday Times contacted the CR&FC skipper Dushantha Lewke on the subject he said that Bilal Hasan will not play in today’s game, also without elaborating.
Bilal played CR’s first two games against the Police and the Army as their starting hooker.
In spite of several attempts made by the Sunday Times, Navy spokesman Capt. Athula Senarath who promised to give a statement on the issue failed to do so at the time of going to press. |
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