A two day struggle of rugby came to an end with the most prestigious awards in the cooperate rugby sector being dished out.
The Dialogue-Mercantile rugby 7s wrapped up on the 11th of August 11, 2013 at the CR&FC grounds crowning Mas “A” champions
The presentation ceremony of the rugby seven’s opened up by recognizing the ball pickers. Mr.Vasantha Ramanayake the President of MRFA handed over a special set of token of appreciations to the kids from C.W.W. Kannangara Vidyalaya for their support in the ground work. Following was another special token of appreciation for Mr.Ana Wijerathna: the former CR & FC Player; well known rugby administrator and pitch Marshall for Mercantile Rugby 2013.
Next up the winners of the Shield division were called up to collect the trophy. This year, in addition to the winning title there were the phones provided by Micromax to all the participants of the winning team. Amana Takaful and Brandix were the proud runners up and the winners in this category. Although the highest no. of teams were battling in this division most of them were upcoming teams with least rugby experience; hence, the winners had much more to celebrate -their novel experience. Competing in the same division, Vasantha Udahana from Brandix was recognized as the upcoming Rugby player of the tournament.
As the presentation reached Bowl and Plate award portions the teams consisted of professionals. The Runner’s Up, Commercial Credit, and the winning team, Citizen Development Business, both compromised A division club players. The outstanding player of the Bowl division was Banuka Nanayakkara also from the Citizen Development Business.
Then it was the Plate Division awards. “We wanted to win the trophy, so here we are” Radheesha, the captain of the John Keels B division sharing his happiness after winning the Plate championships. Naleen Kumara was the most promising player of the Plate division. On his achievement he said “We played as a team and the coordination helped us to win the game”. The runner up of the plate division was the Commercial Bank.
The elite Cup category finals were almost as intense as a national club 7s match; well, it was played by all the national club players. Nation Lanka Finance – last year champs- were against the Mas “A” team. Regardless of the outstanding performances early on, Nation Lanka had to settle down for the runner up spot. “Playing 7 aside, one can’t afford to make a single mistake. It might be the turning point” Shenal Dias of National Lanka Finance, on the lost championship. “The 7s standards have improved drastically due to many 7s tournaments –Carlton 7s to Clubs and more.”
The 2013 winners of the tournament was Mas “A” which consisted of many leading national rugby players: Under the captaincy of Fazil Marija, the team boasted of Gayan Weerarthne, Pradeep Liyanage and many more key figures. Guiding the team to a stunning performance, Fazil Marija was also the man of the tournament. “I can’t wait to get back home, Kandy, and share my happiness with my mom” Fazil sharing in his happy moment. Further he noted that this tournament brings together many upcoming players to share the experience with professionals which is why he took this opportunity to specially make up for the matches he missed last year due to a knee injury.
The Dialogue-Mercantile rugby 7s 2013 edition closed up with lots of hope for the upcoming players and with much experience for the already experienced.
