ICBT secure Inter-Campus Rugby 7’s Cup Championship

ICBT breezed past BMS 22-12 in the cup final securing the Inter-Campus Rugby Sevens tournament played at Royal Complex. Meanwhile, KDU defeated CINEC 24-07 winning the Bowl segment as NSBM – A comprehensively beat Royal Institute 21-05 securing the Plate segment.

The cup final was a tight tussle as tournament favorites ICBT went up against the former winners and stronghold BMS as the two teams overcame some handy opposition.

BMS looked to continue their dominance in inter-campus sports events, however, they met their match in an ICBT team filled with stars from the Sri Lankan Sevens circuit.

The likes of Omalka Gunaratne, Adeesha Weerathunga, Chamod Fernando, Janidu Dilshan and the Lee brother’s from CH were a few big names while Wajid Fawmy and Ishara Madushanka were a couple of notable competitors pulling on the BMS jersey.

ICBT continued in their ominous vein of form from the start of the day, taking a slender 5-point lead into halftime thanks to two tries from Omalka Gunaratne.

BMS struck straight after lemons, however, further tries from Janidu Dilshan and Harith Bandara took the halftime-leaders towards a hard fought win as BMS met their match following a lucky run to the final.

A tournament played in rather a different format to all other sevens tournaments throughout the past 3-month, saw twelve teams take to the ground, being divided evenly into four groups of three.

The first two of each group lined up against each other in the cup quarterfinals while the third and final placed team were relegated to the bowl semi-finals.

 Groups 

Early on in the day, ACBT topped group A as RI eventually finished second with AAT the hand of the group winners.

BMS topped group B as they piled on the points against, SLIM and NSBM – B. Meanwhile, SLIM finished in second place as they managed to get over the line against NSBM – B, ending the round-robin format with a solitary win.

A CR dominant Seagis outfit overcame both CINEC and ICBT – B, taking top honors in group C as ICBT – B from Kandy ended in second place, relegating CINEC to the Bowl segment.

ICBT A took the first place in group D as the star-studded outfit were never really tested in their opening two outings.

The cup semi-finals took shape as ACBT, Seagis and ICBT A coasted  through their respective quarter-finals. However, BMS were made to work for their win, getting over the line in fighting fashion.

The losers from the cup-quarters made their way into the Plate segment, while the winners continued in their current segment.

KDU – A and CINEC made headway into the Bowl final, while NSBM – A and RI put their cup-quarter defeat behind them, bouncing back to make safe passage into the Plate final.

• Bowl Semi-final:

• Plate Semi-final:

An ACBT outfit which consisted the likes of Theekshana Dasanayake, Sithum Peries and Kasun Surange — to name a few — were shocked by BMS, leaving the ACBT faithful stunned.

Meanwhile, in an equally competitive, second semi-final, ICBT got ahead of steam, scoring three early tries, and looked all but home and dry, but, were chased down by Saegis — which consisted the likes of Chatura Seneviratne, Nalin Kumara, Shehan Dias and Heshan Kiriella — who seemed to steal the game away.

However, a try after the hooter from Adeesha Weerathunga saw an enthralling win to secure their ticket to the final, in what was the best game of the tournament.

• Cup Semi-finals:

KDU A overcame a spirited CINEC outfit, securing the Bowl segment while NSBM – A took home the Plate segment rounding off a competitive Inter-campus Rugby 7’s tournament.

• Bowl Final:

• Plate Final: