Dulaj lifts Petes’ flag on high

Chris Dhambarage

His maiden season at St. Peter’s College turned out to be a memorable year as he became a proud member of a champion team which made a clean sweep in First XV rugby.
Three years later Dulaj Perera has put his team back in the reckoning through a brilliant individual performance as he shattered the Sri Lanka Schools record for the highest aggregate of points in the concluded league tournament.
The dynamic centre three-quarter and former Sri Lanka Youth International made a lasting impression by making a fabulous contribution of 150 points that erased the previous record of 148 points set by Royal fly half Arshad Jamaldeen last season.
Dulaj Perera of course showed signs of turning out to be a complete all-round player from the very beginning of the season when he contributed 19 points in the curtain-raiser match against Kingswood College Kandy.
But his task became even more difficult as the season progressed specially in the absence of their regular captain Danushka Ranjan who was sidelined with an injury after the game against traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College.
As a result Dulaj Perera was appointed acting captain of the St. Peter’s College team and the pressure was mounting on this utility player who anyway lived up to expectations with a tremendous all-round performance.
His best effort in fact came in the match against D. S. Senanayake College where he made a good contribution of 37 points in the form of three tries and eleven conversions.
However, Dulaj Perera will always cherish the performance against Trinity College where he almost singlehandedly guided St. Peter’s College to a spectacular 34-29 victory while performing away from home.
His performance in this outing was even more significant considering the fact that the Peterites were the only team this season to inflict a defeat on Trinity College who went on to become the ultimate league champions for 2012.
Dulaj Perera also had a memorable game against Science College where he contributed 22 points to his team by scoring a try, added the extra points and also fired across five crucial penalties.