MAS regain Mercantile Rugby 7s

MAS Holdings, led by Kandy’s brilliant scrum half Roshan Weeraratne, regained the mercantile rugby plum at the 47th Mercantile Sevens, which concluded at the Racecourse International Rugby Stadium on Sunday. 

In the finals MAS Holdings beat defending cup champions the Access Group, as Weeraratne touched down in the second period of extra time. The scores were level 7-7 at halftime and 14-14 at fulltime.

Anuruddha Wilwara drew first blood for MAS, with Weeraratne converting for a 7-0 lead. Richard Dharmapala then scored for the Access Group, with Dhanushka Ranjan converting to tie things up at 7-7. 

In the second half, Sandun Herath scored and Weeraratne converted to put MAS ahead 14-7. However, Richard Dharmapala fought like a Trojan and touched down for Kevin Dixon to adding the extra points, drawing Access level at 14-14.

The match went into overtime and the scores still stood dead locked at the end of the first period of extra time which lasted for three minutes. Then came a thunderbolt in the second minute of the second period of extra time which vanquished defending champions Access – a try by Weeraratne to lead his team to a victorious 19-14. Irshad Cader refereed the game. 

MAS earlier won the cup in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. They skipped the tournament citing player injuries after facing the draw in 2016.

Herath from MAS was adjudged the Man of the Final and awarded the Pemraj Peiris Memorial Challenge Trophy. 

Dharmapala from Access, for the second successive year, lifted the Mohan Daniel Memorial Challenge Trophy and rode away with a Yamaha F2 150 CC bike from AMW after being picked as the Man of the Tournament. 

MAS won the Sajith Mallikarachchi Memorial Challenge Trophy award for fair play, voted for by the officiating referees.

Newcomer to the cup championship Kanrich Finance won the play-off for third place and took the plate, beating another newcomer to the big league, Citizens Development Business ‘A’. 

The final went into overtime as the scores were level at7-7 after fulltime. Kanrich led 7-0 at halftime. The winning try came in the second period of extra time. The referee for the game was Weranga. 

Pabasara Hewage from Kanrich Finance won the Capt. Mathew George Challenge Trophy, being the Most Promising Player. 

Classic Travel had to fight every inch of the way to beat debutants Clovetel 21-14 in the bowl final. The scores were level at 7-7 at halftime. The game was refereed by Ishanka.

Clovetel made a dream debut despite losing to Classic Travel in the final. Clovetel remained unbeaten up to the final, scoring eight wins on the trot. 

FT  Key Take

• Sundun Herath from MAS was adjudged Man of the Final and awarded the Pemraj Peiris Memorial Challenge Trophy
• MAS won the Sajith Mallikarachchi Memorial Challenge Trophy awarded for fair play voted for by the officiating referees
• Pabasara Hewage from Kanrich Finance won the Capt. Mathew George Challenge Trophy as the Most Promising Player
• Gayan Weeraratne from Classic Travel was picked as the top emerging player

Gayan Weeraratne from Classic Travel was picked as the best emerging player. 

Citizens Development Business ‘B’ won the first final that was played on Sunday, taking charge of the shield after beating debutant Fair First Insurance 20-14, after leading 10-0 at halftime.  CDB got another feather in their cap when their women won the second women’s tag rugby tournament and then trounced defending champions Ceylon Tobacco Co. ‘A’ 25-0. CDB remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, beating CTC ‘A’ 15-5, Virtusa 10-0 and tying 5-5 with CTC ‘B’ in the league stage. 

The tournament was a significant one for MRFA, which is functioning under the astute leadership of President Shanaka Fernando from Informatics (formerly at Heath & Co. and the Metropolitan Group). MRFA broke tradition and took a bold step by shifting the venue from Longden Place to the racecourse grounds for the first time since 1966.

The tournament was jointly powered by two new sponsors - South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and Jaguar-Land Rover by SML Frontier Automotive Ltd.

South Asia Gateway Terminal Chief Financial Officer Channa Gunasekera, SML Frontier Automotive Ltd. General Manager Ravi Perera, SAGT Chief Commercial Officer Ted Muttiah, AMW Passenger Vehicles Director Yohan de Soyza, AMW Group MD Samantha Rajapaksa and MRFA Patron Sumal Perera were some of the prominent presenters at the post-tournament awards ceremony.

 

Pix Nisasal Baduge