Sean to look after Kandy rugby interests
For the past 21 years or so, Kandy Sports Club has always prided itself on its near invisibility. Double crowns and even triple crowns have come their way year in and year out. So much so that rugby enthusiasts wanted a change from the monotony.The emergence of the Navy Sports Club spelt danger. However, it was the Henry Terrance - led Havelocks Sports Club team that dashed their hopes two seasons ago. The Navy SC cornered the glory in the season just concluded, while Kandy SC had to eat humblepie-in this case, third-place finish.
This tawdry performance coincided with the exits of their successful coach of six seasons or thereabouts, Johann Taylor. Stung to the quick, the club authorities were not slow to persuade, even entice, Taylor to come back. That done, the club looks forward to the season commencing November with fresh hope.
Kandy SC changes their captains every year. They are not alone in doing so. The reins have been entrusted to a longstanding, faithful member of the team Sean Wijesinghe. This will be his second stint as he led the team in 2008, too.
He comes from a school with a great rugby tradition – Trinity College. In 2000, he played under the captaincy of David Luchow, and in the following year, he was deputy to Thisal Jayawardena. At college, Sean dabbled in other sports as well. He captained the basketball team, performed at a high level in field events as an athlete and also turned out for the Under15 team at cricket. However, rugby remains his undying passion.
There is a slight note of disappointment when he says he missed playing for the Sri Lanka Under-19 team, as he was abroad with his parents. But he was picked for the tours of Korea, Hong Kong and the Arabian Gulf, while opposing the Chinese at home. He has played most of his rugby as a flanker. He confides that this is his pet position.
“As a flanker, the work-rate is high” he says.
In his view, discipline, speed, agility, power and quick thinking are necessary ingredients for a flanker. For Kandy SC, his co-flankers have been, inter alia, Dilip Chelvam, a schoolmate, Dushanth Lewke and Imran Bistamin. The last named, an old Antonian, had his rugby career terminated as a result of a freak accident. In the national side, he has played alongside the likes of Lewke and the talented Dilanka Wijesekera.
Funnily-enough, Sean says he has not played much Sevens rugby at international level. Accident or design? Your guess is as good as mine.
Getting on in years now, Sean probably has one or two seasons at best. He is under no illusions about the insurmountable odds he will have to face if he were to lead the Kandy SC team to the Promised Land, like a modern day Moses.