Pendulum swings as MAS win mercantile title for the 1st time

MAS emerged as the cup champions in the 40th edition of the mercantile sevens tournament against a strong JKH side. It was the first time MAS tasted victory under skipper Dinesh Kumara. MAS who fielded a full on Sri Lankan line up had a hard road to clinching the cup with JKH leading till the final minute of the game. The winners who possessed some of the biggest names of in local rugby were one of the front runners to clinch the title at the start of the event. The start studded MAS line up featured the likes of Saliya Kumara, Lasintha de Costa, Ashan de Costa, Mohomed Sheriff, Fazil Marija, and Dinesh Kumara. 

 

JKH who fielded the young and upcoming stars gave the winners the scare of their life and almost ended up winning the encounter.  Bilal Hassen the former Royal College crack number eight gave in a mammoth effort in the final bulldozing his way through in many occasion which resulted in him being adjudged as the ‘Player of the finals. Srinath Sooriyabandara and Dushanth Lewke gave in a superb effort to keep the MAS team guessing at all times. 

MAS started off the game with a bang with CR&FC wing three Dinesh Kumara scoring two tries in quick succession to give the winners the early lead. Both tries came after a series of good hands which resulted in the overlap and paved way for easy tries for Kumara. Last year’s cup runner up JKH then put up their first score on the board with a try through diminutive scrum half Charith Seneviratne who sizzled his way to score under the post. MAS then made their intentions clear before half time with a brilliant try from skipper Fazil Marija who received a passed from a flummoxing Mohomed Sheriff.  Not to be outdone by this JKH replied with another try by Air Force scrum half Charith Seneviratne who scored under the post to end the first half at 15-14 in favour of MAS. 

 

The 2nd half began with a rapid pace with JKH coming all out which resulted in Ratheesha Seneviratne scoring an unconverted try.  Lasintha de coast then scored mid right to take back the lead with Saliya Kumara converting to make it 22-19. MAS who played a fast open game lacked the finishing touches and made a lot of uncharacteristic errors which resulted in JKH scoring next through Bilal Hassen.  The power house, Bilal Hassen thumped his way through a couple of defenders with his trademark hit and scored near the post to take the lead back to JKH. At this point everyone present at the ground was certain of a John Keels win but MAS has other ideas. They scored a peach of a try through skipper Fazil Marija who sprinted to score under the post to win the title for the first time for MAS. It was a fitting end to a brilliant tournament.

 

V.V Karunaratne emerged as the shield champions in their debut run in the mercantile sevens tournament beating a worn out HDPL ‘B’ side in the final. V.V Karunarante team was one of the top contenders for the title having beaten all their opponents by convincing margins during hte early stages of the tournament. 

 

An interesting feat to be noted is that Ceylon development bank (CDB) put up the highest ever ‘points for’ aggregate  by a debutant in the 40 year history of the tournament which was 173 and maintained an over 30 average right throughout the tournament expect for the semi-final game against V.V. Karunaratne. The best performer in the shield category was also from V.V Karunaratne’s Ralphton William. William a former Mahanama player shone out from the rest with his thumping tackles and was always on the ball which resulted in him keeping a number of tries. 

 

The bowl segment was won by commercial credit beating a star studded HSBC side. Commercial credit who had a lot of school levers in their ranks proved to be far fitter and organised when compared to their opponents. Lee Keegal together with Sohiru Anthony and Sudharashana Muththuthanthri stood out with their play with the former wining the best player’s award in this category. 

 

Access and Dialog battled it out for the plate championship with Access coming out winners convincingly. The Access team displayed some scorching rugby with Chanaka Chandimal, Dhanushka Perera and Nuwan Hettiarachchi being the stand out players. Shenal Dias the under 19 national skipper was a towering strength for Dialog in both attack and defence and was well supported by the likes of Sajith Saranga and Henry Terence. 

 

Ashan de Costa of MAS was adjudged as the player of the tournament. Ashan who played in the wing three position was the finisher for the MAS team and went over in a number of occasions to pile up the score for his team.