by Ravi Nagahawatte
He looked a quiet guy who wouldn’t harm a fly . But that changed the moment his duties were needed in the robust game of rugby football. Once on the field he was dare devil enough to do anything to make his team win . And if people remember him that’s the time during the day that Saman Jayasinghe’s character was most prominently visible .

He was the man to take on a challenge and prove a point . That if anyone puts his heart and soul into doing something there was nothing that could be termed as the ‘impossible’.

Jayasinghe wasn’t a star when rugby greats in the calibre of Anjelo Wickremaratne and Sandy Hameed left CH and FC and joined arch-rivals Havelocks back in the seventies.

And how he made this a challenge by taking on the responciblility placed on him to rebuild the side by the club’s president then , Kubby Wijethunga .

Jayasinghe went on a search for talent in schools together with Iqbal Hassan and made CH a driving force within a space of three years. All the planning done paid off in 1982 when the team won the Inter -Club League Tournament after more than 20 long years.

Jayasinghe was probably the centre of attraction for the fairer sex with his good looks and handsome features . But he never could put these to good use as he was only in love with the sport he dabbled in.

Rugby for Jayasinghe was what he lived for till he gave up competitve rugby at the age of 26. He retired with grace after having captained Sri Lanka at both the ASIAD and the Hong Kong Sevens tournaments.

The son of a wealthy businessman , Jayasinghe first took to rugby when he was called up to represent his house, in school, at the age of sixteen.

He picked up fast and went on to represent the Royal College senior rugby team. Jaysinghe holds fond memories of his school winning the Bradby Shield with a record margin in 1976.

However all these happy moments were never revealed to his parents says Jayasinghe. "They simply didn’t understand my passion for rugby or for that matter what the game was all about . So the joys and sorrows that came my way from rugby were kept to myself" says Jayasinghe who adds that his parents were always missing from the handful of spectators who came to cheer CH.

It was not until he joined CH that the passion for rugby started to grow. He came to CH in the evenings to play tap rugby and soon made it his second home .

"After some time my friends used to call me at the club when they couldn’t contact me at home" recalls Jayasinghe .

Jayasinghe was a fitness fanatic who believed in being fit to enjoy the game . "What’s the use of knowing what to do with the ball if you can’t get to the ball" says the Jaysinghe .

He was the ruggerite who’d go through torure in order to achieve the perfect physical condition a sportsman should be in. For this he did his own training with several hours of weight training a day in the club’s gymnasium. And then he would sleep for an hour before it was time to step onto the ground and play the game with his team mates.This became a routine he was hooked to till he hung up his boots.

After leaving school he joined his father in business. But Jaysinghe was always out of office before tea time for he had to be in the gym at 1.30 in the afternoon for his first work out.

He never thought of a professional job career or for that matter where the next buck was going to come from . All he had in mind was to be involved with the game.

"I am grateful to my father for providing me with everything during my involvement with rugby. Even today I am living a luxurious life because of his businesses" said Jayasinghe .

Jayasinghe had one dream which he wanted to achieve when he commenced his rugby career at CH . That was for his club to win the league tournament. Twice his dream came true when CH won the title in 1982 and again in the following year. He was the captain of CH and FC in 1983.

A great thinker of the game , Jayasinghe often took with him to bed memories of the days practice or a game to do his own analysing. Little did people have to wonder why he earned the name "Think-tank’ in the rugby circles of those days .

Jayasinghe remembers many a tough time the club went through during the years he represented the club.

However as he recalls those make or break situations he faced what pulled him and his team mates through had been the belief in himself. "I didn’t care what the others thought . I always had the belief that CH was going to win" says Jaysinghe .

Giving up the sport as a competitve ruggerite Jayasinghe shifted his interest to his father’s businesses . However he continued to be involved in the sport in a less serious way, turning out for the club’s second side .

Six years after his glory days in the sport of rugby , Jayasinghe had a challenge in his hands once again when an old friend made a request to him to play for CH again.

He had all the time in the world to make a comeback into A Division rugby . But he faced a problem that he never encountered in his rugby career. He was not the Saman Jayasinghe who played in the eightees. In other words he feared losing the reputation that he earned during his heyday.

"I had to do commando training to get back my fitness . It meant training twice a day . After a lot of hard work I got back my fitness" recalled Jayasinghe while speaking of his come back which happened in 1990.

He hung up his boots for the last time in 1991.

Jayasinghe entered wedlock in 1993 when he took the hand of Sunethra . Today he has two kids , Harini (6) and Gayal (4) who demand all his attention.

"I am now a changed person " says Jayasinghe. "Now I enjoy every minute that I spend with my family. Just as I did when I was involved in rugby"concluded the rugby hero of CH and FC.