During the past couple of years they were known as ‘Thor’ (the God of Thunder) of schools rugby but this season, so far, nothing spectacular has emerged from them. S. Thomas’ who used to be a dominant force in the schools rugby circuit is at present experiencing a spell of team building. But their newly appointed coach Esala de Livera Tennakoon is highly optimistic that the bad things do happen when there are good things ahead.
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| S. Thomas’ who used to be a dominant force in the schools rugby circuit is at present experiencing a spell of team building- |
“It’s not really the end of the road. There is a lot that these players can offer. Unfortunately we somehow or the other lacked winning ways this season,” Tennakoon said commenting on the present setback of S. Thomas’ rugby.
Unexpectedly S. Thomas’ played par below their customary pattern of play and suffered heavy defeats. The 2011 squad lacked the services of strong playmakers and virtually Blue and Blacks had to field a blend from their junior squads from the start of the season.
In their season opener against Wesley the Thomians surprised many by fielding a comparatively weaker team than their opponents and went down fighting at 18-12. The side lacked exposure in the top league. They continued to experience heavy defeats against Trinity by 75-6 and Kingswood by 63-6. By then Thomian officials made amendments to the coaching staff. They changed their coach Sudath Sampath. Under Sampath S. Thomas’ suffered three consecutive defeats. The present coach, Tennakoon who has been serving as the junior coach for quite a time was then given in charge of the senior team.
“I took charge of the team just two days before the Thurstan game. I sought the assistance of forwards Janik Jayasuriya and Sachin David who represented S. Thomas’ in 2009, in order to bring back the winning ways. What we observed by this time was, that the players needed some sort of motivation. As a first step we prepared the players’ mental strength,” the former Thomian scrumhalf said.
Tennakoon (23) who apparently coached the Thomian junior teams during the past four years was not a newcomer to the school’s rugby setup. But miserably the mass exodus of senior players from last year’s spirited squad had left the present Thomian rugby side at their wits end and left them hapless for the first few weeks.
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| Coach Esala de Livera Tennakoon has a great challenge ahead to lift the standard of S. Thomas’ rugby |
However within two days Tennakoon had too much to do to enhance the performance of their declining playing standards. Despite this major drawback the Thomians faced Thurstan hoping to grab their first win but were defeated by 3-22.
“There were about eight seniors who had a bit of playing experience with the first XV team in the earlier season. Unfortunately, three of them suffered injuries and due to various reasons the team failed to get the services of the remaining seniors. S. Thomas’ had to depend on Under-18 team members to fill in the huge vacuum. But the players are technically very sound, though they lack the exposure at this level,” said Tennakoon speaking on the brighter side of the team.
After four straight defeats S. Thomas’ finally tasted the glimpse of a win when they overcame a comparatively experienced Dharmaraja outfit 35-24 under home conditions. But their joy was short-lived for just a week. They returned to experience defeats one after another but in contrast played to a better game plan and had improved their playing standards.
Against St. Anthony’s they were beaten by 13-63 followed by a heavy 3-77 defeat at the hands of Isipathana. Their last match was up against defending champions St. Peter’s. Though they lost the battle 7-57 , the Thomians could rejoice for winning the war of regaining their form which is bound to be too late now to avoid an obvious relegation to the lower group. With equal number of points with Thurstan, S. Thomas’ are placed at the bottom of the Division I ‘A’ points table.
“As a former player it’s really sad to see my team facing relegation. We have three games against Royal, Science and St. Joseph’s. My hope as the coach is that win at least two of these games. Still, if things don’t work out accordingly we have Plan ‘B’, which is totally focused on building a strong foundation for the future. If we get demoted to Group ‘B’ next year we will have a long season with nine tournament matches and almost six traditional games. Our junior structure is quite strong and we will have time to regroup ourselves to a make a hefty return to the top. This season can be considered a twilight period. We are struggling but we equally gritty,” said a defiant Tennakoon.
The squad: Dinuk Amarasinghe (Captain), Randika Peiris, Devin Jayasinghe, Chaditha Samarasinghe, Damithra Peiris, Sulakshana Amaratunge, Ramith Paranagama, Manisha Comester, Sachindra Perera, Keshan Wanigasuriya, Zafran Jhan, Naheed Zainudeen, Rohantha Abeykoon, Sandev Handy, Louis Jayaweerasinghe, Kushmanth Mututettuwegama, Shehan Rodrigo, Devin Udippily, Hasanka Senanayake, Arshaq Juranpathy, Supun Hastamuni, Aneesh William, Aathif Jaward, Eesaa Ibrahim, Kavinda Kumarage. |
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