MAS regains the Mercantile 7s title from Access

The 47th Mercantile 7’s was won by MAS Holdings beating Access Group 19-14 in the cup championship after a nail-biting game which was decided in the second half of extra time as both teams finished 14 each at the end of the second half of normal time.

Kanrich Finance won the plate championship after beating CDB ‘A’ 12-07. This game too went to extra time to decide a winner. Classic Travel clinched the Bowl championship by beating the new comers Clovetel 21-14 while CDB ‘B’ had to settle for the Shield championship by defeating another new team Fairfirst Insurance 20-14.

CDB had more silverware when their Ladies team won the Tag rugby tournament by beating the much fancied Ceylon Tobacco outfit 25-00.

Third day games began with the quarterfinals of the bowl & shield championship at the racecourse stadium.

In the shield quarterfinals Janashakthi hammered HSBC to win by 35-10 while NTB got the better out of AMW ‘B’ 24-17.Third quarterfinal saw CDB ‘B’ getting a hard fought victory against Ceylon Knit Trend 15-12 and the final semifinal spot was grabbed by Fairfirst Insurance as they comprehensively defeated Ceylon Tobacco 26-07.

Bowl quarterfinals took place straight after the shield games. Clovetel, Classic travels, Kandurata Umbrella and Prospectus Capital advanced to the semifinals.

Tournament moved towards to the business area as the semifinals got underway. In the shield semifinals CDB ‘B’ and Fairfirst Insurance managed to qualify for the final.

The two new team which made their first mercantile appearance Clovetel and Classic travels made their towards the Bowl final.

The big teams took centre stage as the plate & cup semifinals took place as CDB ‘A’ defeated AMW ‘A’ 22-12 with tries from Banuka Nanayakkara and Sandesh Jayawickrama ensured the Victory For the CDB ‘B’ as AMW ‘A’ put up an excellent performance in the first half. Kanrich finance was awarded a walkover in the semifinals due to Mobitel pulling out of the tournament.

Much anticipated cup semifinals took place as Access and John Keells (JKH) played the first semifinal. JKH had superb first half with an early lead with from tries of Thilina Wijesinghe and Hirantha Perera. Access came back strong with superb second half with tries from Buwaneka Udangamuwa, Lavanga Perera and two fabulous tries from skipper Danushka Ranjan ensuring that they qualified for final, the score stood 20-10 in favour of Access.

Second semifinal was a close contest as MAS came up trumps by beating Dialog 14-10. Anuruddha Wilwara and Sandun Herath scored the two tries for JKH and Mohamed Adzal scored twice for Dialog. Dialog had some opportunities to score a winning try but unfortunately they couldn’t add the finishing touches to those promising moves.

Shield Final

CDB ‘B’ defeated Fairfirst Insurance to clinch the Shield Championship. This game was closely contested with two tries from Avishka Lee and one try apiece from Danuka Rathnayake while the wining try was scored by Heshan Jansen, for Fairfirst M.A.S.Fernado touched down twice as they game ended 20-14 In favor of the CDB ‘B’.

Ladies Final

CDB demolished the defending champions Ceylon Tobacco 25-00 to win the ladies tournament.

Bowl Final

Classic Travels opened the scoring in the bowl final against Clovetel through Chathura Senevirathne as he powered himself over three Clovetel defenders for an early lead. Two back to back tries from Chamika Thivanka and B.Basnayake put the Clovetel side to lead with two minutes remaining for play in this final. The late onslaught by Nirosh Udayange ensured the Classic Travel win the bowl championship as he scored the try to equalize the game and constructed the second try by running acute angle and opening a gap for Gayan Wickramarathne to score the winning try at the end of the final whilst the score stood at 21-14 for Classic Travel.

Plate Final

Thilina Weerasinhge opened the scoring for Kanrich finance early in the game and in the second half Rehan Thiagaraja equalized the game with a superb try as he went over for CDB ‘A’. Weerasinhge opted  for penalty kick in the last move of the game as the score stood 7 all for both teams .The kick had direction but not the distance as the game ended in a draw which meant that extra time was needed,

In the first half of the extra time Pabarasara Hewage stood out for Kanrich as his individual brilliance ensured that their team won the plate championship 12 point to 07.

The Cup Final

Srinath Suriyabandara kicked of the final which was played under lights as MAS Holdings dominated initial phases of the game and they benefitted from it when Omalka Gunarathne drew three defenders towards him and offloaded to the speedster Anuruddha Wilwara as he went over for the first try for MAS. (MAS 07-00 Access)

Omalka yet again made some great yards forward with his aggressive play and opened up golden opportunity for MAS to score but they were unable to score from these chances. Richard Dharampala collected a loose ball and ran around Anuruddha Wilwara to equalize the score just before half time. (MAS 07-07 Access)

MAS started the second half strongly too as they continued a good passage of play as Sandun Herath went over to increase the lead with his trademark powerful run. (MAS 14-07 Access)

In the last minute of the game Richard Dharampala was abled find a gap in the MAS defence and he went over to score his second try. (MAS 14-14 Access)

At full time the score stood the same and the game went to extra time. Both teams had chances in the first half of extra time but couldn’t convert them to points. Skipper Roshan Weerarathne finally scored the winning try as MAS were crowned cup champions. (MAS 19-14 Access)   

Players of the Tournament

Heshan Jansen (CDB ‘B’) – Shield segment best player
Gayan Wickramarathne (Classic Travel) – Bowl segment best player
Pabarasara Hewage (Kanrich finance – Plate segment best player 

Ishani Obeysekara (CDB) – Player of Ladies tournament

Sandun Herath (MAS) – player of the final

Richard Dharampala – Most outstanding player of the Tournament

Fair play award went to MAS holding Team

Results of the final day games