42nd Mercantile Rugby 7s kickoff on Friday

The crème of local rugby talent will be put on show in a flamboyant atmosphere when the Mercantile Rugby Football Association (MRFA) conduct’s its 42nd Mercantile Rugby ‘Sevens’ , powered by Dialog, for the 10th successive year, on 23, 24 and 25 November at the CR&FC grounds, Longdon Place.

44 teams will vie for the Dialog ‘Cup,’ ‘Plate,’ ‘Bowl’ and ‘Shield.’

Seven teams will be making their debut namely, Vis Broadcasting , Venture Ceylon, Amana Bank, Millennium IT, Oasis Marketing , CL Synergy and Alliance Finance.

The groupings were done on Tuesday, 20 November, 6.00 p.m. at the Old CR&FC pavilion.

The nine teams inthe ‘Cup’

MAS Group ‘A’ (defending), J. Keells ‘A’, Sampath Bank and Seylan Bank (all in Group ‘A’), Nation Lanka Finance (2011 ‘Cup’ runners-up), Dialog ‘A’ (third place winner), Vis Broadcasting, Commercial Bank and Access Group (‘Plate’ Winner) (all in group ‘B’)

The 15 teams in the ‘Bowl’

Entrust (defending), Dialog ‘B’ & HDPL ‘Reds’ (all in Group ‘C’), SL Insurance, Commercial Leasing , NTB and Janashakthi (all in Group ‘D’); HSBC ‘A’, Ceylinco Insurance , Hemas Group (2011 ‘Shield’ winner) and Venture Ceylon (all in Group ‘E’), John Keells ‘B’ , Nation Lanka Finance ‘B’, Amana Bank and Union Bank (all in Group ‘F’).

The 20 teams in the ‘Shield’

Millennium IT, HDPL ‘Blacks’, Oasis Marketing, Citizen Development Bank and MAS Group ‘B’ (all in Group ‘G’), Expolanka Group, CL Synergy, HSBC ‘B’, Hirdaramani’s and Rainco (all in Group ‘H’), Amana Takaful, Smart Shirts, Hayleys Group, Ceylon Tobacco Co. and Metropolitan Group, (all in Group ‘I’), Mobitel, Std. Chartered Bank, Pan Asia Bank, Asian Alliance and Commercial Credit (all in Group ‘J’)

The special awards on offer  

The Mohan Daniel Memorial Challenge Trophy for the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, the Pemraj Peiris Memorial Challenge Trophy for the Man-of-the-Match in the ‘Cup’ final, Capt. Mathew George Memorial Challenge Trophy for the Most Promising Player.

There will be two other special awards for the Up and Coming Player and the Best Performer in the ‘Shield.’

The tournament with a massive card of 102 matches will start on Friday, 23 November at 2.30 p.m. and will end under lights around 8 p.m.

The second day’s play on Saturday, 24 November will commence at 8 a.m. and will again end up under lights around 9 p.m.

The third final day’s play on Sunday, 25 November, consisting the K-O stage matches, will commence at 9 a.m. and will conclude with the ‘Cup’ Final, awards and a fireworks display around 7.30 p.m.

CR&FC Grounds will be transformed into a carnival on all three days with hawker style food fests, DJs and live bands.