“Renaz Mohammad” might not be a name that is mentioned frequently in the current rugby circles, but rewind to year the 2001, the 1st ever Singer Sri Lanka Rugby 7’s in Bogambara, a 16 year old named ‘Renaz Mohammad’ made giant waves in the rugby scene.
This previously unheard of talent from St. Peter’s impressed one and all with his incredible speed and the killer instinct for scoring tries, ending up as the player of the tournament that year.
All ears in the Sri Lankan circles were keen to hear more and know who this speedster was. He was a schoolboy rugby sensation and was feared immensely by oppositions due to his scintillating runs in the wings.
Renaz is now a senior accountant at the Hilton Paddington in the UK and is getting ready for the next phase in his life; marriage. It was a pleasing experience to have a chat with this 6 foot soft spoken, gentle-rugby-giant who used to be like the Flash on the rugby field and was in demand with the fairer sex. Renaz was in the island making arrangements for his wedding and was reminded that his wings are now clipped by his lovely fiancé, who was an absolutely brilliant host to us.
Hailing from the hill capital, Renaz lived in Police quarters during his early years as his father was a member of the Police force. The Police grounds, which was situated right in front of the Police living quarters, was where Renaz spent most of his play time. In Kandy more often than not, an evening of play is never complete without a game of touch rugby. He was a speedster from a young age and this resulted in him being picked to play touch rugby to make up the numbers by his father’s colleagues and thus was introduced to the oval ball game very early on in life.
He also fondly remembers how his father, a rugby player himself, took him to watch Rugby matches at Nittawela in an era where Police used to dominate the Kandy team.
St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy, situated a few hundred meters away from the Police quarters, was where Renaz received his primary education. Keen on becoming a cricketer, he was the wicket keeper of a junior college team, however there was a big obstacle to his cricketing dream; he was afraid of the leather ball. He remembers how his father, after seeing him cringe at the crease while batting, did not mince his words, saying “this definitely is not the game for you”.
The Athletics coach of his school noticed his speed during the school sports meet and he was thus recruited to the Athletic Squad. Renaz excelled as an athlete and went on to become the Under 13 All Island Champion in the 100m event and was also the All Island Champion of both 100m & 200m in Under 15 age group.
Renaz’s first competitive rugby tournament was the Under 13 All Island tournament in 1997. He was an automatic choice on the wing as he was the fastest in the country in his age group at the time, but the real struggle was to convince his mother to let him play. After much mediation and convincing from fellow rugger-ites and coaches who saw immense potential in this young speedster, Renaz was allowed to play. St. Sylvester’s ended as runners up in the tournament, losing to Royal College in the final after beating a fancied Trinity team in the semifinal. During this tournament, Renaz scored many tries and it was here that the realization hit him that he could make use of his speed in the rugby field as he claimed “I was really fast and hardly anyone could catch me”.
Word about this speedy wing had already travelled and interest was expressed by many schools. The most tempting invitation, however, came from Renaz’s cousin, who was a Peterite residing in Colombo. On a weekend when he visited Kandy to watch St. Peter’s play Renaz accompanied them to the game, this roused some interest. Ironically the next person to approach him was Camilus Abeygunawardene, Father of Dilan Abeygunawardene who captained St. Peter’s in 2001. The wheels moved fast and everything was put in place for this ambitious young man to move away from his hometown in search of greater accomplishments as an athlete. With the consent of his parents, who saw the importance of this opportunity and their son’s potential, Renaz moved to St. Peter’s College.
“It was a big challenge and I had never played 1st XV rugby before, I had a chat with my parents before departing to Colombo and both of them told me not to get disheartened if I do not get picked to the rugby team but to focus on my running as I was a quite good at that, but on the first day at practice I was surprised at the number of old boys who were at the grounds to see me at practice. All of them told me how special it is to be part of this amazing set up and how thrilled they were to have me at St. Peter’s, this really motivated me to do the best I can on the field”.
During his first year at St. Peter’s in 2001, this speedy wing three quarter changed gears in his rugby powers. He was adjudged the player of the tournament in the inaugural Singer 7s in 2001 and went on to represent Sri Lanka U- 19 in the same year at just 16 years of age; St. Peter’s managed to topple S. Thomas’ and Trinity in the league and won the 10’s beating Ananda College in the final. Renaz fondly reminisced scoring the winning try in the dying minutes after trailing for most part of the game.
Renaz recalls the 2002 season, under the captaincy of legendary flanker Dilanka Wijesooriya, as the best season he has played. In his eyes it was mainly due to the mighty leadership and guidance of Dilanka, who he believes was one of the best flankers and leaders the Island has ever seen. Dilanka’s outfit went on to clinch the A Division Schools’ League title becoming the first Peterite team to do so and were also victorious at the Singer Sri Lankan Rugby 7s, beating a heavily fancied Vidyartha team in the final. The speedster was in absolutely amazing form during the season, scoring a record 33 tries and finishing as the highest points scorer in the tournament where there were only 7 teams in the top division; he was a major headache to all opposing coaches .
In year 2003, a debacle that plagues many talented sportsmen affected Renaz, as he suffered an injury to his knee at the start of the season, resulting in him missing out on a big part of the season. Awareness and expertise on injury rehabilitation was not the same at that time with the young winger having to depend on information from various sources and at times receiving contradictory bits of advice from different people.
Renaz turned out for CR&FC in the following season and was an instrumental member in the team that became runners up, losing to the mighty Kandy Sports Club team which consisted of pretty much the national 7’s team in the club 7’s competition.
Making a comeback after the injury, this dashing winger could not reach the heights that he was feared for. Renaz revealed that there were more factors than the injury that hindered his return to the usual form, youth and naivety led him to do things differently to how he would have liked to do them now and he had a message for the young players too, “This is something that I want the younger generation to remember, I didn’t train as much as I did the previous years since I was assured of my place in the team. In sports you can never be complacent as there will always be others who are working twice as hard and if you are not giving your 100%, a person who is giving it his all will take your place”.
