Taking on the Caucasians of Hong Kong and the Fijians of Japan, Srinarth Sooriyabanadara has broken all barriers and conventional thinking: rugby men have to be big.
Soori has singularly shown ‘little’ Sri Lanka why they are perfectly capable of competing with the world. This tale of a slightly- built champion with an obvious largely built heart is one to be told. Srinath Sooriyabanadara or ‘Soori’ as he is fondly known was ranked the third highest try scorer for in the recently concluded Asian 7s games. This record included 6 tries at the Malaysian tournament, 5 tries at the Thailand tournament and four tries each at Indian and Singapore tournaments. Without a doubt his try scoring rampage was cause and effect for this island nation getting to the no 3 ranking.
Soori was such an indispensible commodity in the sevens side that he was quickly thrust into the Sri Lanka 15s side for the second game in the recently concluded Serendib Cup as Sri Lanka lost its first match to Madagascar.
In the local circuit he is undoubtedly the best sevens campaigner and was awarded the best player at the Mercantile rugby tournament as well.
With all of this in mind, ThePapare.com caught up with the young speedster to get an insight to what makes this running machine click. Srinath mentioned that his father having been a rugby player for Police Division B, he had his initial footing to the game through his father. At the age of 12, he was an occasional visitor to the rugby grounds where his father practiced. Knowing the game, he joined the rugby practices at Isipathana College in the seventh grade, but this he says was not that successful. He states he took to the game seriously only when he went in to U 13 practices. Since then his interest towards the game increased, yet it was not his focus; rather an extracurricular activity. Srinath even took a break away from rugby for OLs and restored his rugby in 2006. It was the time he started building faith in the sport.
“My occasional visits to the matches didn’t mean much to me. I think at the start I was one of those who hardly watched any matches. I just considered it to be a sport and nothing more ‘by the time I reached the last year I shifted my focus on to studies. After OLs my attention was towards rugby and I missed a lot of classes because of that. The recovery was impossible but I got a lot of job offers thanks to rugby and my parents also were satisfied how my life shaped up with rugby.”
Srinath was an under 19 national rugby team participant. He had to invest a lot of hard work into the final selections. As a late bloomer in the game, it was not an easy gain for him to make it to the under 19 Nationals. The spirit continued and continued practice got him into the club circuit representing CR. Srinath was up against a lot of competition in the club circuit, he had to put some extra effort into the game. Practicing daily in the morning, Srinath invested extra hours of practice to the game. “Early morning practice sessions were for my personal gain. The usual sessions took place in the afternoons, but parallel to that I was having a 30 – 45 minute sessions daily where I fine-tuned my moves.”
In the initial days, Srinath states he struggled as any other rugby player against strong sides. However, the experience he gained turned him into the legend he is today. The game changing experience for Srinath was the Commonwealth Rugby tournament. He was able to score tries against England and Australia, two of the leading rugby teams in the world. The notion that world rugby players were unbeatable was wiped off from Srinath’s mind. He continued to practice with even more faith in the game. ”There is a huge difference in the standards of rugby they play compared to us. I was motivated to break that difference; practice enough so that I was able to make it to the top.” As a rugby player of small stature Srinath’s strength was his stepping and his speed. His intention was to build up stamina to last long throughout the game and develop a unique stepping. Sprint training, ladder training, hurdles and many cardiovascular training were a priority in his personal training.
At CR his rugby patron, John Carrington made a huge impact on his rugby career, but this bond lasted only for a short time with John leaving the club soon afterwards. Inthi Marikka replaced Carrington’s spot as Srinath’s influence. Apart from the usual knowledge shared among fellow players, Soori mentioned he gained core values of the sport from, Shamli Nawas and Bandula Mallikarachhi who were his school coaches but continued to be a part of his rugby.
“Though I practiced hard my sole intention was not to score tries but rather to make the maximum out from a practice session. Unlike other people I was focusing on the individual sessions every time regardless if we had a match or not. I always wanted to push the practices to extreme levels. I wanted to do my level best even with my weak points’. Although Srinath had different moves and techniques he had mastered, he followed the same supplement plans and gym schedule as any other member of his team. However Soori added impetus to his game by the extra number of hours he invested in the sport. As he got into the game later than the rest, in order to compete with his team members he made it a habit to play a rugby game ever time he had an opportunity, at least at a tap rugby game. “Going to a ground for a game was a part of my routine. I would grab some of my friends and play a game for sure”.
Srinath Sooriyabandara, Sri Lanka’s try machine is indeed an inspiration not only to his peers, his younger followers but to human beings as a whole; a perfect example of what you can achieve with just simply ‘right effort’.
ThePapare.com came away feeling privileged to have been allowed the time with this large hearted gentleman and sincerely wish him the very best in his future and hope he will continue ‘rain’ tries for the Tuskers from Sri Lanka.
