Nation Lanka Finance ‘A’ clinches Mercantile Rugby 7s crown

Text and pix by : M. Farook Lantra

Nation Lanka Finance “A” for the first time clinch the Dialog Mercantile Rugby sevens trophy by beating the two time 7’s Champions MAS “A” in grand style 14 points (two goals) to 10 (two tries) in a thrilling cup final witnessed by a packed house held at the CR & FC grounds from 23 to 25 November.

Before lemons Nation Lanka Finance “A” was 14 points while MAS “A” was 5 points. After the turn around the MAS “A” scored another try few minutes before the final whistle. The try scorers for Nation Lanka were Nuwan Hettiarachchi and Chamara Dabare while for MAS “A” P. Liyanage and Ashan De Costa scored one try each.

Nuwan Hettiarachchi of Nation Lanka who played a game of his hearts out in the final was adjudged the player of the Final while the most outstanding player of the tournament awarded to Chamara Dabare of Nation Lanka too.

The chief guest was Mrs. Amali Nanayakkara (Group Chief Marketing Officer Dialog Axiata PLC) the main sponsor and organized by the Mercantile Rugby Football Association MRFA.

More than 440 participants from 44 leading Mercantile Companies in Sri Lanka took part in this grand finale. Media assistance was provided by Office Network Ltd. Distributors for Brother Office Automation Products for Sri Lanka.

Referee from the Sri Lanka Rugby Referees Society of SLRFU did a commendable job during the three day tournament. After the award ceremony a fire work display was held.

Results – The third place of the cup was won by Debutant VIS Broadcasting which was led by Rohitha Rajapakse who beat Access 21 points to 05. The Plate was won by Dialog “A” who beat John Keels “A” 12 points to 05. The Bowl was won by John Keels “B” Credit who beat Citizen Development Bank 17 points to 10.

The final was handled by P. Gunaratne