By A Special Sports Correspondent

Domestic rugby in Sri Lanka is making steady progress in its first complete club rugby season after the covid pandemic really crippled the game in the club scene during the past two years.Kandy Sports Club is making great headway in the season and watching all this progress with a sense of contentment is scrum half Srinath Sooriyabandara (Suri) who represents the Nittawela Club for the eighth consecutive year.

There is much talk about Sooriyabandara right now because he just turned 34; which makes him a very senior player in domestic rugby in both club and national rugby after having stepped into the senior category of rugby in 2009. One of the unique achievements of his is that he has represented Sri Lanka at rugby at three consecutive Asian Games.

Sooriyabandara is a stepper; a rugby jargon used to highlight the fact that a player can run pretty fast. This player also can take a few knocks on the field and has had his share of injuries. In a newspaper interview he had once said that he would love to erase all the injuries he has suffered which was his answer to the question ‘what would you erase from your life if given a chance’.

Sooriyabandara has been around for a while; hence he has made some vital combinations with players in the likes of Nigel and Tharinda Ratwatte and before that with rugby legend Fazil Marija. As scrum half he has paired off with some of the best fly halfs in the game.

He came as acting skipper for the Asian Sevens Series in the absence of regular skipper Sudarshana Muthuthantri. But then there were seniors in the caliber of Gayan Weeraratne to guide him. That was the start to his leadership in rugby and he went on to captain the national side on many occasions; his role as captain at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham serving as a feather in his cap.

He got his opportunity to play alongside Marija. At the ‘Mumbai Sevens’ he played alongside Marija and helped Sri Lanka emerge the victor. Sri Lanka beat Malaysia 22-17 in the final at that tournament. If one takes Sooriyabandara, Tharinda, Nigel and even Mithun Hapugoda the country is now blessed with some able senior rugby players who have been around for a while. Sooriyabandara commenced his rugby career at Isipathana College in Colombo and showed enough promise that he would continue into the senior level and graduate to the national side. But despite all his achievements in rugby union he still cherishes the moment he was presented with the Isipathana College rugby jersey and rates that as the crowning moment in his rugby career.

After leaving school he represented CR&FC and shifted to Upcountry Lions and then Navy Sports Club before settling down at Kandy Sports Club. At the Nittawela Club it was not easy for him to cement his place with Roshan Weeraratne playing in his pet position. But as he put in the years and moved to the next level of playing and with Weeraratne hanging up his boots Sooriyabandara made himself the number one choice to wear the number nine jersey for Kandy SC and Sri Lanka. Critics believe it’s encouraging and inspiring to see such an aged player making continuous headway in the game and also retaining his slot with the number one domestic team in the island. He is now at the peak of perfection and it is interesting to see how much longer he can hold on to his pristine condition as a semi-professional sportsman. He has played 13 years of rugby as a senior player and retirement must be a topic flashing in his mind now and then. But the game he plays from the base of the scrum suggests that Sooriyabandara has some unfinished business to attend to as a player.

This guy doesn’t need any motivation to tie up his boot laces and get on the field. We read somewhere in an interview Sooriyabandara saying he makes it a point to give off his best in whatever he does. That leaves him with being made to answer the question ‘what he would do the day he cannot give off his best? Many great players who were in the Kandy SC side left the ‘game’ before a coach or the club hierarchy told them ‘the decline has commenced’. Great players like Marija have taken to coaching and are running their own rugby academies. The grass is greener in areas outside the playing area at the Nittawela Club.

Havelocks Sports Club back division player Mithun Hapugoda reached the milestone of playing his 100th domestic rugby game. Hapugoda has been playing domestic rugby since 2012. He too is of the same age as Sooriyabandara; hence we see a rugby product of stellar quality. But there are other qualities in Hapugoda to talk about. This player has been loyal to Havelocks Sports Club which is commendable because players do switch their alliances with clubs ‘for a few dollars more’. He has had a pretty decent career as a rugby player and played in positions like winger and full back and also as scrum half when the need arose. That’s the caliber of this player. More than the skill he possesses as a utility player Hapugoda has catered to the need of shifting his playing position to meet the demands of the situation; underscoring the thought that ‘the club is more important than the individual’.

We have seen the best of Hapugoda in both 7s and 15-a-side rugby and what stands out in him is that he is a team player. He had his education at Mahanama College and this academic institute can take pride in producing an individual like him.

The other player who has come under the limelight this season is Air Force Sports Club back division player Nuwan Perera. He accumulated 100 points recently while playing as fly half for Air Force. The Airmen are going great this season and are now contesting the Plate Championship of the Inter-club League rugby tournament.