After two considerably good seasons in the top league, Wesley College Colombo, with an experienced playing outfit, will go all out to make a mark in the schools rugby season 2017.
Blast from the past
Wesley College celebrates its 60th year in the oval ball sport and have been a silent contributor to the country’s sport producing notable national players such as Henry Terrance, Rahul De Silva, Zubair Doorai and Kishan Musafar. Last year captain Zayan Sabar played for the junior Tuskers U19 whilst winger Chamika Kusal made the U20 7s team.
Re-entering the top division in 2013, the Double-Blues reached their peak when the Rahul De Silva led Wesley team emerged President’s trophy winners defeating Trinity College in the final. Since then, they have continued to strive in the top most leagues.
Last year
Wesley had a close call in the League last season as they barely managed to stay in the Cup championship finishing 8th in the table playing 9 matches and only winning two of them. They did win the Blaze Cup that is awarded for the encounter against Kingswood Kandy but lost out on their trophy game against S. Thomas’ however.
Interestingly they will kick off the new season against Trinity who they lost to narrowly with a 7 – 5 score-line in last year’s opener.
Players to watch out
Denister Goonetilake: Taking the reigns as captain, Center Dennister Goonetillake will be looking to take the hopes of the Double Blues forward. Now playing his final year, Goonetillake paired up well with the rest of his three-quarters last season and will look to do the same here as well. He will be looking to play a responsible game to take the aspirations of the Zam Zam Zake forward.
Avantha Lee: Tagged in the school arena as the dynamic-duo, the Lee brothers have been the livewire in the side and Avantha will team up with skipper Goonetillake in the center combinations. Playing his third and final year, he would be looking to end his stint in the blue jersey on a high note.
Avishka Lee: Avishka has been the team’s consistent scrum half for the last two years. His quick reflexes and ispired thinking has saved the day for Wesley on a number of occasions.
Vimu Gamage: The flanker from last year’s outfit, Vimu Gamage is the key for the Wesleyites in the forwards line and is one of the most experienced campaigners in the side. He will be a vital asset in the scrums and the breakdown with his instinctive play.
Coaching staff
Jivan Goonatillake is an experience coach and will have the support of Botheju as forwards coach and Sheriff as backs coach. Unfortunately it did not go well for his team last year but Wesley still managed to stay in the cup competition. Previously both Botheju and Sheriff worked with Jivan and they make a good combination.
“We did well in the off season, we had few practice matches and we worked hard in the gym and we hope to do well this season” – Denister Goonathilake
Coach Jivan on last season “we lost a lot of games which probably we should have won, we have a balanced side because we got thirteen guys who played last year, so we only lost two or three guys”
“There are a lot of players who are under-rated here, lot of players didn’t make Sri Lanka youth team on the fringe, so I think a lot of players in this team will raise some eyebrows, who are not taken much notice of” – Jivan Goonatillake
Squad 2017
