With more than four months to go for the 2016/17 Dialog Club Rugby season, triple-crown holders Kandy Sports Club have already made their first move in a bid to retain their crown in the coming season by signing three Tuskers heavyweights; Danushka Ranjan, Jason Dissanayake and Kanchana Ramanayake.
The club officially announced the signing of the two center combinations that will boost up the current playing squad for Kandy Sports Club. Kandy have particularly opted for exposure and experience with this move as both these players have represented the Tuskers in the international arena in both sevens and XV’s.
The former Peterite and Tuskers cap Danushka Ranjan joins the Kandy club having spent three years at Havelock Sports and is set to be the first choice for Kandy in the center position in the coming season. The destructible three-quarter who earned his reputation and popularity in the school segment for St. Peter’s in 2012 for his dazzling feet and thrust later went on to be the shining star in the club rugby arena in the Havelock jersey. Ranjan went on to represent the national sevens side the year 2013 and later wore the XV’s colors in 2014.
Meanwhile, two Kandy lads, Kanchana Ramanayake and Jason Dissanayake will make their trip back to their hometown as they sign new contracts with the hill country club. A product of Trinity Ramanayake represented his school in the year 2010 and played for Up-Country Lions and later crossed over to CR & FC. Representing the Sri Lanka National XV’s last season at the Asia 5 Nations, he made his way up to the sevens contingent later. The Ranjan-Ramanayaka duo is set to dominate the 1st & 2nd center combination spots in the Kandy line-up giving out tough competition to the rest.
The CR & FC and National Tuskers player Jason Dissanayaka is the newest Kandy recruit who would cross to Kandy Sports Club for the upcoming season. The former Vidyartha skipper from 2012 who went on to represent Navy Sports Club soon after his schoolboy stint and later turned up in the CR & FC jersey. A regular in the Tusker’s national XV since 2013, Jason also represents the sevens side and all three of them were a part of the touring squad for the Monaco Olympic Qualifier Sevens series.
