Mercantile 7’s – Access triumphant after 16 years

The 46th Mercantile Rugby Sevens was won by Access group beating Dialog Axiata 35 -12 in the Cup championship. Richard Dharmapala bagged the award for the player of the final and player of the tournament.

Nation Lanka Finance beat JKH ‘A’ with a last gasp effort as they took the Plate Championship while JKH ‘B’ beat Dialog ‘B’ to bag the Bowl Championship and Brandix were crowned Shield Champions. Ceylon Tobacco beat Virtusa in the inaugural Ladies tag rugby tournament.

The third and final day of the 46^th Mercantile 7’s kicked off today (17/7) as the quarterfinals got underway at CR & FC.

First-up were the Shield quarter-finals as PABC beat Expo Lanka with ease scoring 4 converted tries in reply to Expo Lanka’s single converted try. The game ended 28-7 in favor of PABC. Brandix got the better out of Attune as the game ended 12-5. Janashakthi managed to overcome CTC beating them 15-7 in quarterfinal three. Kandurata ‘B’ eased pass HDPl holding HDPL score-less.

The inaugural Ladies tag rugby tournament got under way as Ceylon Tobacco beat Office Network 15-nil as Ceylon Tobacco planted 3 tries.

Moving back to the rest of the quarterfinals, Kanrich Finance beat HSBC 19-07 as CDB reds got the better out of SLIC 19-nil. Dialog ‘B’ (17) played a competitive third quarterfinal even though Kandurata ‘A’ (12) fell 5 points short of Dialog. JKH ‘B’ were made to work hard for their win as Sampath Bank fought to the end but fell short by just 3 points. The score read 17-14 in favor of JKH ‘B’

Office Network failed to win in their second game as Virtusa got the better out of them 10-5, in the second Ladies tag rugby match.

PABC and Brandix booked their place in the Shield final as they beat Janashakthi and Kandurata ‘B’ in the Shield semifinals. The score lines read as below:

The Bowl semifinal’s saw Dialog ‘B’ and JKH ‘B’ beat Kanrich Finance and CDB reds respectively. The score lines read as below:

In the Cup semifinal Dialog ‘A’ (26) beat JKH ‘A’ (12) as Anuradha Herath made a star performance with two tries and Mithun Hapugoda and Chamara Dabare affected one try each. Reeza Rafaideen and Asitha Punchihewa scored for JKH ‘A’ but it was too little too late for JKH ‘A’.

In the second cup semifinal Access steam rolled over Nation Lanka scoring 36 points conceding only 7. Richard Dharmapala, Danush Dayan, Kavindu Perera and Kevin Dixon all scored while Thilina Bandara scored the only try for Nation Lanka.

Shield Finals:

The finals got underway as Brandix comfortably beat PABC. Supun Disanayake opened the scoring for Brandix as Kasun Hurigolla and Pabasara Hewage also registered their name on the score sheet. PABC managed a consolation try in the end as the game ended 26-7 as Brandix took the Shield Championship. (Brandix 26-7 PABC)

Ladies Final:

An early try by Ceylon Tobacco saw them triumph over Virtusa. Ceylon Tobacco scored the only try in the game as Virtusa were held score-less. (CTC 5-nil Virtusa)

Bowl Final:

JKH ‘B’ beat Dialog ‘B’ for the second successive year as they got the better out of Dialog ‘B’ as Romesh Fernando and Chamikara Karunarathne scored two tires while Dialog ‘B’ managed a consolation try at the end of the game. (JKH ‘B’ 29-5 Dialog ‘B’)

Plate Final:

The plate final was a close affair as Nation Lanka beat JKH ‘A’ after the final hooter was sounded. The first try of the game came the way of JKH ‘A’ as Mohomed Sashan set up Tarinda Ratwatte to score (JKH 5-0 Nation Lanka). Gayan Iddamalgoda struck for Nation Lanka straight of the kick off as he gained the lead for Nation Lanka (JKH 5-7 Nation Lanka). Nation Lanka scored yet again through Gayan Iddamalgoda as he doubled the Nation Lanka score (JKH 5-14 Nation Lanka). The game was a side to side affair as Nishon Perera scored for JKH ‘A’ and Reeza Rafaideen extended JKH ‘A’ lead at the end of the first Half. (JKH 17-14 Nation Lanka)

Captain Thusitha Samarathilake regained for Nation Lanka as he went under the post few minutes into the second half. Minutes after scoring Thusitha Samarathilake was sin binned for a suspect high tackle which seemed legitimate. JKH ‘A’ made full use of the man advantage as Reeza Rafaideen scored his second try of the game. (JKH 22-21 Nation Lanka)

With time up on the clock Nation Lanka launched a final attack as Gayan Iddamalgoda stepped through the JKH ‘A’ defense as a fancy pass from Shamri Burah to Thilina Bandara saw him dive over to score and hand Nation Lanka a famous win and with it the Plate championship. (JKH 22-28 Nation Lanka)

Cup Final:

The Cup final was a rather one side affair as Access, runners up from 2015 comfortably beat Dialog ‘A’ 35-12 in the main event of the night.

Richard Dharmapala was shown yellow for indiscipline within the first five minutes of the game. Dialog ‘A’ exploited the man advantage as Dulaj Perera put on fancy footwork to score in the near corner for the first try in the final. (Dialog 5-0 Access)

Suhiru Anthony extended Dialog ‘A’ lead further as the dived over under the post in the first minutes of the game. (Dialog 12-0 Access)

Photo Album – 46th Mercantile Rugby 7’s 2016 – Final Day

Richard Dharmapala scored two quick tries to end the first half as Access grabbed the lead back again. (Dialog 12-14 Access)

Kavindu Perera scored for Access in the second half as the flood gates opened for Access as they managed two further tries. Dhanushka Ranjan made a mad dash from 65 meters as he stepped on the gas and left the Dialog defenders for dead and dived over under the post to establish a rather unassailable lead (Dialog 12-28 Access)

The second half was all about Access as they made Dialog defend and held Dialog score-less in the second half.

Danush Dayan added the icing on the cake as he stormed his way through the fragile Dialog defense to score under the post. Chanaka Chandimal converted all 5 tries to complete a perfect performance in the final and win the Cup after a 16 year long wait.

Players of the tournament:

Kasun Hurigolla – Shield segment best player
Romesh Fernando- Bowl segment best player
Gayantha Iddamalgoda- Plate segment best player
Richard Dharmapala was named man of the final and the best player of the tournament.

Score Summary: