Kandy to commence league title defence on 1 Dec.

By Shamseer Jaleel

Local club rugby champions Kandy Sports Club will begin their campaign to defend their league title when they host Sri Lanka Air Force in Nittawela on 1 December. 

They will be led by Nigel Ratwatte for the 2019/2020 season with national rugby legend Fazil Marija functioning as the team’s coach, Lasantha Wijesooriya serving in the post of Rugby Chairman and Kapila Silva managing the team.

The only outstation club to play rugby at the top level will have three consecutive games at home before travelling to Colombo. They will host Army and Navy on 7 and 14 December respectively at home. Then their rugby-loving spectators will be deprived of any home matches for the next four weeks when Kandy travels down to Colombo for four consecutive weeks. Their encounters against Police SC, CR and FC, CH and FC and Havelocks SC will all be away games contested in Colombo. 

Ratwatte learnt his junior rugby in Kandy at Trinity College before shifting to Mauritius and South Africa. He will receive ample support from Kavindu Perera, Damith Dissanayake, Tharinda Ratwatte, Buwanka Udangamuwa, Roshan Weeraratne, Shehan Pathirana, Heshan Kalhara, Sumudu Rankothge, Yakoob Ali, Sayuru Anthony, Danuska Dyan, Buddima Piyarathne, Lavanga Perera, Oshan Perera, Dhanushka Ranjan, Thilina Wijesinghe and Srinarth Sooriyabandara to name but a few of the outstanding players who will turn out for Kandy this season. 

However, they will be without the services of the Kandyan express Dhanushka Ranjan, who is nursing a knee injury and is likely to miss both rounds of the league. However, he is expected to take part in the Clifford Cup tournament’s three games. Another surprise from the Kandyan camp is that Richard Dharmapala, who has yet to be seen training with the squad, could also miss this season. 

Kandy SC once again will have the support of Cargiils as their premier sponsor. They first won a cup in 1992 when they clinched the Clifford Cup under former Antonian Maurice Joachim. Two years later under Indrajith Bandaranayake’s leadership they won the league. From this point onwards, winning the trophy grew into a habit for the club, and nowadays they command an army of supporters wherever they play.