Suranga the cager turned ruggerite-by Althaf Nawaz

Suranga Amarasinghe

The second row forwards in rugby should be tall, powerful players with excellent scrummaging skills and line out jumping. . In open play the second row forwards should perform the role of support players in rucks and mauls. Suranga Amarasinghe, well-known as Chunchu in the sporting circles, was one of the top players in this position when he donned the College, Club and National jersey .

Suranga was born to a humble family in Mirigama in the Gampaha District in 1977 He had three brothers, His younger brother Chathuranga played for Trinity and St. Peter’s and captained Havelocks in 2009. Suranga was enrolled at Trinity College, Kandy and completed his education there from the primary to higher studies from 1985 to 1996, having being boarded at the College hostel. His first appearance in sports was basketball with the under -17 team. He dribbled the ball until he played for the under-19 school team, which won the championship at the All-Island National Games in 1993. He went on to captain the Trinity College Basketball team in 1995, and was awarded basketball colours in the previous year. His coach was D S Pingamage.

He was very keen on sports from his younger days and being at Trinity they were inculcated with the idea of rugby being a “prestigious” sport. He started playing rugby from under-9 age group and surged ahead to represent the school in all age groups. His first year of playing with the first XV was in 1994. That team was led by Munthazir Rally which was the 50th Bradby Shield with Royal winning the first leg 10-3 and the second leg ended in a draw in Kandy (8-all), which saw Royal retaining the ‘Bradby’. Lohan Ratwatte and Janaka Kiridena coached them. In his second year in first XV rugby, the team was captained by Harris Omar, under whom they won the ‘Bradby Shield’ and De Saram Trophy, where the team was under the watchful eyes of Quentin Israel.

In his third year, he captained the first XV in 1996 and under his captaincy it was an outstanding rugby season. They lost only one game in the League to Isipathana. At half time the score was 13-0, in favour of Trinity but Pathanians bounced back gallantly to win 20-13. They also ended runners up in the Inter Schools 10-aside rugby tournament played in Nittawela. Trinity won both legs of the Bradby Shield with an aggregate of 42-6 (30-3 and 12-3) coached by Quentin Israel. It was the highest score by Trinity against Royal after the 1944 season captained by S.B Pilapitiya. While playing for College, he represented Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Team in 1995 touring Chinese Taipei with the Junior National Rugby Team.

He was awarded the prestigious ‘Rugby Lion’ in 1995 and 1996 seasons for his unstinted performance, after receiving the rugby Colours in 1994. While he was into basketball and rugby, he excelled in Athletics to receive the award for Champion Athlete in 1996, under-19 age category,taking part in all three events Putt shot, Javelin and Discus throw .

After his school career, he decided to continue his rugby career with Kandy Sports Club from 1996 until 2000. He continued to bind in the second row along with Asoka Jayasena and his school mate Pradeep Basnayake. He made his debut for Kandy in 1996, played seven games in the same season under Imthi Marikar’s captaincy. His second year at Kandy, was under the captaincy of Lasantha Wijesuriya, where they remained unbeaten winning the triple crown in 1997. He had the privilege of playing with some outstanding international players such as Apisai Nagata, Opethi Turuva and Manasa Qoro coached by retired senior DIG Nimal Lewke.

While playing for Kandy, he got the National call in 1996 and locked horns until 2000 with the National team. He represented Sri Lanka for five years under the captaincy of Priyantha Ekanayake, Asoka Jayasena and Viraj Prasantha. . He played against most of the Asian teams such as Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan. He was adjudged man of the match in the Asian Games in 1999 against Thailand. He was fortunate to be guided by some of the finest coaches in that era in the country such as Ajith Abeyratne, Ana Saranapala and Nimal Lewke. He had the privilege of playing with some of the rugby legends such as Indrajith Bandaranayke, Sudath Sampath, Harris Omar, Nalaka Weerakkody, Priyantha Ekanayake, Imthi Marikar, Pradeep Basnayake and Asoka Jayasena..

His last appearance in rugby was in the 2000 season, due to an ankle injury, which resulted in him undergoing surgery to refix it.

The time out from rugby gave him some time to re-evaluate his future. Subsequently, he made the decision to call it a day hanging up his boots to pursue higher studies in New Zealand.

At present he is residing in Melbourne, Australia with his wife Oshani who has been a pillar of strength in his life and the two kids Janudi and Nethaka.

He is employed as a Business Manager for Land Rover. Janudi played netball representing the local club team.

Nethaka is a keen basketball player representing the local club . He is also a footy player.