When rugby was introduced to the Ceylonese island, there were a handful of institutions who came forward to take on the sport. The school overseeing the Mahaweli River on the northern pass of Kandy; St. Anthony’s College was one of them.
Taking up the oval ball game from the very beginning, St. Anthony’s have been an active participant ever since.
A bit of history
St. Anthony’s College, calling themselves the Eagles, have been one of the driving forces in the school rugby arena contributing effectively to keep the game in existence in its rough times. As Antonian rugby saw progress towards the 1950’s, traditional friendly encounters were played amongst St. Joseph’s, Trinity and Zahira College. This kept the spirit of the sport in existence while in Antonian dominancy saw birth in the 1990’s.
The St. Anthony’s outfits led by the veteran Priyantha Gunaratna and Nihal ‘viper’ Gunaratna have gone down on paper as legendary outfits in that era as these two veterans still continue to dominate the rugby arena, now as experienced coaches. This era saw St. Anthony’s rugby flourish as crowds flocked to the Nittawela rugby field to which they called home to witness the school games played with St. Anthony’s. Since then the passionate Antonian fans continue to make their way to the games regardless of a win or loss.
In the recent past
The past few years, the sport has taken a passive stage in the institution where the Eagles haven’t been able to make a formidable impact on the field. St. Anthony’s survived two seasons in the top division holding on to their stance to prevent getting relegated and their last year run was a impressive one on the books; their best in the last three years.
Under the reigns of skipper Damien Wijesuriya, St. Anthony’s didn’t have the fortune to survive after the first round, but went on to dominate the second round games for the plate title losing only to Wesley College. The 2014 season saw the team coming out of the dark and playing competitive rugby as they did few years back.
Driving Force
Dilan Neuman leading the Eagles-Third year player Dilan Neuman takes control of the St. Anthony’s side for the 2015 season. Having played in many positions as lock and flank, he takes hold of a very responsible position as #8 for his team this season. Tall and well-built Neuman will be primarily opting to go for the top positions this time around; something which St. Anthony’s has been attempting to reach over the years. This will be his primary motive this season as his calls will play key in the Antonian attack.
Daham Fernando & Shermal Weerasekara; Danger men to watch out -Playing his full season this time in the starting #7 jersey at Flank, Fernando will be the key person to look at. Fernando’s efforts will be needed immensely during the scrums and defensive plays as skipper Dilan Neuman’s support player will no doubt be Fernando. On the inside, it will be Shermal Weerasekara playing an important role for the Eagles at lock forward. The pacey second row is the Antonian kryptonite as he has been the stand out in the past two Antonian encounter. If skipper Neuman and these two establish proper chemistry within themselves, their path forward will be a cruise.
Men behind the scenes
Veteran Coach Priyantha Ekanayaka in Coaching Duties -St. Anthony’s alumni and veteran coach Priyantha Ekanayaka will take over the duties of coaching for 2015. Priyantha had been in this position for the last two years and his expertise and knowledge will be put to effective use as he embarks on a journey to mould the Antonians to a fighting unit. Priyantha in his early years wore the St. Anthony’s jersey before he went on to represent Kandy Sports Club where he captained the side to a much celebrated league title victory and later on played in the international format donning the Sri Lankan jersey. Priyantha is also a part of the refereeing panel of Sri Lanka.
In their own words
Speaking to ThePapare, Neuman expressed that he and his team have the potential to go the distance as he would want to take the 1s XV outfit of St. Anthony’s College to the top three spots in the league table.
Squad
Props – Anjana Ariyawansa, Shenal Dias, Kavinda Amarakoon,
Hooker – Pulathsi Dissanayaka, Dines Rodrigo,
Second row – Pasindu Dulshan, Shemal Weerasekera, San Roinston, Mohamed Shabeer ,S. Monishan
Flanker – Navishka Weerasekera, Daham Fernando, Savesh Weerakoon, Fazly Fazeer, C. yuwadarshan,
No8 – Neuman Dilan ( C )
Scrum Half – Duminda Hettiarachchi, Pavithra De Silva,
Fly Half – Gerald Naveen, Asanka Maduwantha
Center – Dinuk Amarasinghe, Hashan Dilshan, Thilan Jagoda,
Wing – Tiron Jeraj, Naveem Gnanesekar, Jehan Seelagama, Sameera Kanchana, Janith Weerasekera, Terrance Rajaratnam
Full Back – Dulaj Jayathissa, Praboda Bandara,
Head Coach – Priyantha Gunarathna
Asst Coach – Rohitha Mendis
Trainer – Vijitha Bandara
