Kingswood College Rugby Pool 2024
(Pix by pradeep dilrukshana)

By Shamseer Jaleel

The school which introduced rugby football to the country, Kingswood College, will be all out to produce an improved performance in the current Inter-Schools Under-19 rugby season.

In the opening match of the League Tournament they lost to Royal College after some gutsy performances in the initial half. In the end the Reid Avenue outfit won the contest 60-5.

Anudha Upek leads the Randles Hills outfit with some outstanding players such as Basith Halid, Dhulisha Rasanjana, Kavindu Muthumala, Nifraz Ruzaik and Thaveesha Ekanayake in their outfit.

Meanwhile, Ananda Kasturiarachchi is their Director of Rugby with Dinesh Gamage being their Head Coach. 
Kingswood will play the L. E. Blaze Trophy encounter against the traditional rivals Wesley College in Colombo. The Kingswoodians will have four games in Kandy while they will travel to Colombo on three occasions.

Kingswood has produced some outstanding rugby players in the recent past and they have gone on to represent the country in the early 2000’s.

They last won the Under-19 League Championship under Gayan Rathnage in 2008. Nilfer Ibrahim coached that outfit. So, it’s a long wait for the Kingswoodians having gone through for the last 15 years without the Trophy.

Kingswood College Rugby Pool 2024:

Anudha Upek (Captain), Damindu de Silva (Vice-Captain), Nifraz Ruzaik, Basith Halid, Kavindu Muthumala, Nafeez Ahmed, A. M. D. V. N. Bandara, S. M. S. N. B. Samarakoon, Y. K. C. A. B. Wickramasinghe, Dhulisha Rasanjana, T. M. Ekanayake, R. S. Baudaween, O. S. Weerasekara, K. A. A. Dilshan, W. G. S. S. Amarasooriya, M. M. Pushpakumara, W. A. S. M. Premarathna, K. P. P. T. Bandara, Dinuga Senod, Tharusha Bandara, I. R. M. Hashmi, S. T. Nissanke, D. L. A. S. N. Samantha, M. M. T. B. Madugalle, M. A. Azmi, I. J. Z. Jhan, I. A. K. T. A. Tharupathi, M. N. D. Fernando, Sajidh Cassim and Sanuth Sethmal.

League fixtures: 

June 22 v St. Peter’s at Nittawela.
June 28 v Vidyartha at Bogambara Stadium.
July 6 v Zahira at Nittawela Stadium.
July 13 v Thurstan at Bogambara Stadium.
July 19 v Wesley at Longden Place.
July 26 v St. Joseph’s at Havelock Park.

Head Coach: Dinesh Gamage.
Rugby Director: Ananda Kasturiarachchi.
Trainer: Shezan Salih.