Day 1 of the Dialog Inter Club Rugby 7’s kicked off today (1st August) at the Race Course International Stadium.
Havelocks A, CR & FC, Navy B and Kandy ended on top of their respective groups as they won both matches played today.
Game one of the day saw a 5-all draw as Peterson Drew with Army ‘B’. Police ‘A’ was the first team to record a win as they beat Air force with ease scoring 24 points in the process. Navy ‘B’ recorded their first win as they managed to beat a young looking Havelocks ‘B’ team by 21-07. Meanwhile Navy ‘A’ ran riot as they easily toppled Police ‘B’ scoring 33 points in the process.
Defending champions Havelocks ‘A’ began their defense of their title as they made easy work of Peterson scoring 66 points and held Peterson scoreless. CR & FC kept Air Force scoreless as they won 24 nil. Navy ‘B’ created an upset as they beat Air Force ‘A’ 24-17. Kandy SC stamped their authority in the tournament as they scored a half century against Police ‘B’.
Havelocks ‘A’ recorded win number two for the day as they beat Army ‘B’ by a handsome margin.
Sandun Herath, Dhanushka Ranjan and Sudharshana Muthuthanthi found themselves on the score sheet for Havelock ‘A’ in this game. In the final game for CR & FC, Rochana Hettiarachchi and Jason Dissanayake scored as CR got past Police ‘A’ 17-00.
Army ‘A’ were made to sweat versus Havelocks ‘B’ as Army ‘A’ managed to just get past Havelocks ‘B’ 19 -10. In the final game of day 01 Kandy produced a champion performance as Fazil Marija, Richard Dharmapala scored a try a piece and Anurudha Wilwara scored two as Kandy ended the game 28-00 against Navy ‘A’.
The tournament saw few debutants impress for their respective clubs. Vimukthi Rahula from St.Joseph’s College shone while his counterpart Kevin Dixon and Reeza Rafaideen also made a good start to their professional rugby career. Power packed No.08 Omalka Gunarathne brought his school rugby form forward as he continued to impress on the big stage. Roshan Weerarathne found himself on the wrong side of a powerful charge from youngster Omalka.
Dhanushka Ranjan ended day one as the highest try scorer with 5 tries while Dinusha Chanthuranga, Sandun Hearath, Anurudha Willwara and Richard Dharmapala all scored 3 tries each.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | |
| Army ‘B’ | 5 | 5 | Peterson |
| Police ‘A’ | 24 | 5 | Air Force |
| Havelocks ‘B’ | 7 | 21 | Navy ‘B’ |
| Navy ‘A’ | 33 | 5 | Police ‘B’ |
| Havelocks ‘A’ | 66 | 0 | Peterson |
| CR & FC | 24 | 0 | Air Force |
| Army ‘A’ | 17 | 24 | Navy ‘B’ |
| Kandy SC | 50 | 0 | Police ‘B’ |
| Havelocks ‘A’ | 40 | 0 | Army ‘B’ |
| CR & FC | 17 | 0 | Police ‘A’ |
| Army ‘A’ | 19 | 10 | Havelocks ‘B’ |
| Kandy SC | 28 | 0 | Navy ‘A’ |
Cup Quarter Final – Tomorrow 2nd August
2.50pm | Havelock’s A v Navy A
3.10pm | Navy B v Police A
3.30pm | Kandy v Army B
3.50pm | CR&FC v Army A
