INTERNATIONAL RUGBY

By Capt R A B Musafer 4th Regiment SLA(Retd)

In the nineteen sixties the visit of a foreign rugby team or any other sports team was a rarity. However in1969 under the auspices of the British High Commission and the Ceylon Rugby Football Union whose president was Dr K.B.Sangakkara and the secretary Lt A.K Doray, the Bosuns were invited to play a series of matches in Ceylon as it was then known.

Having no Television in Ceylon it was welcome news to the rugby loving public and a unique opportunity to see a foreign side play their brand of rugby on our shores.

Hitherto the public had to be content watching the local club teams participate in the A, B and C divisions of the Clifford cup tournament. The Inter-school matches also drew a lot of interest with the annual Bradby Shield, Royal vs Trinity encounter taking pride of place.

Rugby was a popular weekend spectator sport and drew crowds from more of an English speaking middle class background and the social elite , thereby being branded as a snob sport.

Its popularity was made possible by affordable entry prices and the press coverage not only of the matches but of the fashions on display by the ladies, photographed in their mini skirts and smart eye catching outfits. In reality it became a social event to meet and greet on these match days.

Rugby like cricket, a game inherited from the British, they said was a game that was played in heaven and it was quite appropriate because Ceylon then was a paradise in its own right.

Winston Churchill described Rugby as a “Hooligans game played by Gentlemen” and this held true in Ceylon as it was a game that was played by amateurs consisting of expatriates and those employed in the Mercantile, Planting and the Defence Forces.

The clubs recruited their players from the rugby playing schools by providing them with good employment opportunities in the private and planting sectors.

The Defence Services invariably had to turn outstanding athletes and sportsmen from within its ranks, recruited mostly from the outstation government schools into rugby players, some of them who had never seen a rugby ball before enlisting.

The Bosuns were made up of rugby players of different leading clubs in England coming together in fostering charitable causes for the disabled, which impressed the then Minister of Sports Mr V A Sugathadasa.

The team was captained by Andy Hurst and the team had seven English and one Scottish International and some very promising young top class players in the likes of Mike Bulpitt and John Spencer who in later years represented their countries.

In the three matches before the Defence services encounter the Bosuns had piled a 160 points, scored as follows – Ceylon captained by Haji Omar lost 3 – 56, Presidents XV captained by Noel Brohier lost 5 -48 and Up Country captained by Ken Murray lost 3 -56 at Radella.

Having seen the Bosuns play and with the Defence services match being the penultimate match the brains trust of Maj Bertie Dias coach,Colonel Halangoda, Wing Cmdr Harry Gunatillake and Comdr Ingleton had time to formulate a plan to counter the style of play of the Bosuns.

Considering that the Bosuns were big in size, heavy and fast, forwards and three quarters alike.It was imperative that the team had to be super fit, fast and be able to tackle and bring the burly Bosuns down relentlessly time and time again.

A pool of around twenty servicemen from the Army, Navy and Airforce were selected and sent into a five day residential training camp at the Naval base at Welisara.

Comdr Darley Ingleton a fitness fanatic himself, assigned two Navy Physical Training instructors K T Rabbi and Hamid to give us a torrid time with two daily intense sessions of their brand of naval PT exercises each morning.

Maj Kandiah and Maj Sena Sylva conducted the evening training sessions that honed in on rugby skills of kicking and tackling to suit the game plan which, was kick deep when in possession of the ball and tackle and tackle so as to tire the opposition down.

This was factored in considering that the Bosuns being a fun loving Rugby side had been enjoying the warm hospitality, the beautiful beaches and the scenic countryside the country had to offer and not forgetting the large quantities of beer they consumed.

It was rumoured that in one instance a player had held out a bottle of beer from the train they were travelling in to the station master who was waiting in the platform to receive the tablet as is customary in the Ceylon Railways..

The team was Lieut Peter Leanage (Navy ) (Capt ) Maj CS Fernando (full back) and place kicker Charles Wijewardene (Fly Half) SP de Silva (scrum half) Neville Shedden and Bashur Musafer (centres) Gunadasa and Amaradasa (Winger three quarters ) Ruparatne, Ilex Perera and Rodrigo (front row) MF Fernando Lofty Perera. Viper Gunaratne (Wing Forward) and name I cannot remember making up the (back row).

The Match Officials were Referee Ashey Cader, Quentin Israel and Wing Comdr Harry Gunatillake – the Touch Judges.

Colonel John Halangoda the Chairman of the Defences Services Rugby had spared no pains in making the ground arrangements. The ground with a sprinkling of a slight shower was picture perfect, decked with flags and colourful buntings which made a fitting background for an international rugby encounter. The army band provided the pre match entertainment and music for the national anthems.

The Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake was the chief guest whilst the High Commissioner for Great Britain and the three Service commanders were also in attendance. As usual there was a large crowd with the ladies decked in their colourful sarees and various outfits.

Though predictions by many were that the team would be thrashed by a cricket score it was not to be.

An account of the 80 minutes of play which ended with the lowest margin of defeat inflicted by the Bosuns 17 -8 . is best described by the newspaper columnist “Penalty Kick”

“Bosuns Struggle to beat Servicemen

“The burly Bosuns were bottled up at the Army Grounds, Galle Face, in a nagging drizzle, 15 brave servicemen held the Bosuns rugger team to their lowest score and their toughest victory.

The visitors strained every nerve to pull off a 17 points ( a goal, two tries and two penalties to eight points ( a goal and a penalty) True, the visitors fielded almost their second fifteen for this match, but this did not in anyway belittle the efforts of the servicemen in holding the visitors to a small score.

They proved the lesson taught by the gallant Ceylon team in the first test, that speed, weight and height could be countered with hard tackling tactics.

From the first toot of the whistle they did just that, they tackled and tackled relentlessly thus knocking their opponents rhythm, movements and power play to a standstill. The fact that the visitors had to resort to scoring through penalties would give an impression how hard they had to fight for victory in this game. With a little more luck, probably the services team may have even won this game They missed converting four of the five penalties that came their way.

The Defence Services had given an outstanding performance by sticking to a plan instilled at training with success. Colonel Halangoda acknowledged our sterling performance and said, perhaps in a moment of elation or weakness “Every member of this team will go to India for the All India Rugby Tournament” He did honour his promise .

The Defence services participation in the All India Rugby tournament in Calcutta ( a 12-hour journey ) was facilitated by the Royal Ceylon Airforce which provided two 12-seater Heron twin engine aircraft as training flights for its pilots.

The Ceylon team was named a day before the Defence Services match were beaten 34-8. This premeditated selection certainly deprived at least one gallant serviceman (not me ) from wearing a Ceylon Jersey which he eventually earned years later. The arrogance of the selection committee in its step motherly treatment of a Services team can never be overstated.