Roshan Weeraratne one of the best scrum halves-by Upananda Jayasundera

(from left):Danushka Dissanayake, Roshan Weeraratne (in the middle) and Tharindu Chathuranga in action at the Kandy vs CR & FC match played in 2018.

Source:Dailynews

Roshan Weeraratne, one of the best scrum halves produced by Sri Lanka in this decade , started his rugby career at the age of 12 years at Kingswood College,Kandy. He started playing for the school for five years as an Under 13 Player and gradually got promoted to the first Fifteen and captained the School Rugby team to win the seven-a-side Rugby tournament and the A Division League Rugby tournament . under Fazil Marija .

In the School Rugby team among the outstanding players were his brother, Gayan Weeraratne, (who played as Centre in the team) Rajith Abeykoon, Rizwan Nazar Mohammed, Fasley Rajitha Sansoni, Neil Abrahim to name a few.

Roshan was selected to the Junior National Squad in the year 2007 under Dinusha Chathuranga and played as scrum half and their School Rugby Coach was Ronnie Ibrahim and health and conditioning Instructor was Mothilal Jayathillake.

Roshan has represented Kandy Sports Club since 2009 and helped the Club to become Champions in both League and Knock-out Championships at the Clifford Cup Rugby tournament for more than a decade. He played along with outstanding players like Fazil Marija , his brother Gayan Weeraratne,Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and Pradeep Liyanage . He was selected to the National Rugby teams in both National Fifteen and National Sevens for a number of years and captained Sri Lanka Rugby Fifteen in the year 2017.

In the year 2010 Roshan helped Sri Lanka beat Singapore in the finals by scoring a match winning try and a Drop Goal at the Five Nations Tournament and after this Tournament he was selected as the Best Scrum half. He was employed at MAS Holding for sometime and he has left the place and started coaching at St.Sylvesters’ College, Kandy as IRB Level II Coach and Level I Strength and Conditioning Instructor.

His club rugby coach was Yohan Taylor and he is grateful to the former Principal of the School, Ranjith Chandrasekera and his father, Mahinda Weeraratne, his mother Nilmini Weeraratne for the support and guidance he received from them which helped him to go up to this level in rugby. He said that at present he is in peak form and hopes to continue for a few more years.