MAS ‘A’ crowned champions for third consecutive Year

MAS ‘A’ came from behind to beat Access to be crowned Cup champions of the Mercantile 7’s series 2015.  Plate was won by Dialog ‘A’ and Bowl by JKH ‘B’ and Kanrich Finance won the Shield,

The day kicked off with the quarterfinals of all segments. Cup qualifier 1 was the first cup segment game of the day as defending champs MAS ‘A’ took on runners up from last year Access. The winner of this game proceeded to the final while the loser had to play in qualifier 2 to decide the finalist.

Access kicked off the game from left to right and the first few minutes were marred with handling errors and by penalties being conceded by both sides. Subsequently the first try of the game came off a handling error after Nigel Rathwatte dropped the ball, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe pounced and dotted down under the post to score the first points of the game. The try was converted to extend Access’ lead by 2 extra points as the first half drew to a close with Access leading MAS ‘A’ by 7 points to nil.

MAS ‘A’ made a change as they brought on Sadun Herath off the bench to begin the second half. That decision paid off as he stepped his way through the Access defense and crashed under the post. The extras were added as MAS ‘A’ leveled the game at 7all. From then on it was a side to side battle but neither team managed to turn opportunities into points as the match ended in a 7-all draw and went into extra time.

Extra time began as both teams tried to score that one illusive try. With extra time drawing to a close Kavindu stepped his way and calved the MAS ‘A’ defense to score and give Access the win on the hooter. With that win Access preceded to the final of the cup segment while MAS ‘A’ had to battle it out with the next eliminator match winner to head to the final.

In the elimination game Dialog ‘A’ came up against JKH ‘A’. Dialog ‘A’ made it look easy as they scored 4 tries past a helpless JKH ‘A’ side which looked lackluster from the start. The chief destroyer in that game was Mithun Hapugoda as he scored twice and set up two tries in the game for Dialog ‘A’. The game finished 22 – 12 in favor of Dialog ‘A’ as they earned the right to play in the 2nd qualifier of the Cup segment.

In the Shield semi-finals Kanrich Finance played a hard fought 19-12 win against Brandix while Kandurata ‘B’ got past Commercial bank. The game ended 26 -12 in favor of Kandurata ‘B’.

The Bowl semi-finals saw JKH ‘B’ stroll past CDB Reds (17-05) and Dialog ‘B’ made easy work of Kandurata ‘A’ as they scored 17 and kept Kandurata ‘A’ scoreless.

In Cup qualifier 2, MAS ‘A’ was made to work hard for their win as they had to come from behind against Dialog ‘A’ to win the game.

Mihun Hapugoda weaved his magic as he stepped, chipped and gathered before dotting down beside the left upright. His game was cut short as he twisted his knee in the process of stepping. Before the half drew to a close, MAS ‘A’ leveled things up as Lasintha De Costa scored for MAS ‘A’ and saw the half end 5-all with nothing to choose between the two sides.

The game was an ongoing battle but neither team was able to score in the first few minutes of the second half. With time running out fatigue crept into the Dialog ‘A’ players as they made plenty of handling errors. Dialog ‘A’ were made to pay for their errors as Lasintha De Costa pounced on a loose ball and scored as favorites MAS ‘A’ won the game (12-05) and earned their right to play Access in the final.

The Shield was contested between  Kanrich Finance and Kandurata ‘B’. Kanrich Finance stunned Kandurata ‘B’ as they stormed to victory with Thivanka Rathnayake scoring a hat-trick in the process. The game ended 26-12 in favor of Kanrich Finance.

The Bowl final was a walk in the park for JHK ‘B’ as they scored 35 points passed a help-less Dialog ‘B’ to win the Bowl in the 2015 Mercantile 7’s Series.

Loser of the eliminator game (JKH ‘A’) and the loser of the 2nd qualifier (Dialog ‘A’) met in the Plate final. This match was a closely contested game but Dialog ‘A’ came up winners as they managed to a try in the dying second through Fly half Dulaj Perera and with that they were crowned Plate Champions.

The grand final of the 45th Mercantile tournament was a repeat of the 2014 final As MAS ‘A’ took on Access for bragging rights of the Mercantile tournament. The game was where the immoveable object met the unstoppable force.

The unstoppable force or better known as Access gained the early lead with a try from Shenal Dias and ended the first half in the lead. (07-00)

The immoveable object (MAS ‘A’) cemented their position in the game as they struck a double blow within 4 minutes of the second half. First it was Sadun Herath as he made a trade mark fend and dashed down in the corner to cut the lead to 2 points (MAS ‘A’ 05-07 Access). The second and vital blow was made by Nigel Ratwatta as he scored the easiest try of his 7’s career of a ball that popped out of an uncontrolled scrum by Access. He just dived over the ball in goal to hand MAS ‘A’ the lead in the game with just minutes remaining.

The game ended as MAS ‘A’ managed to stop Access to win the Mercantile 7’s rugby series for the year 2015. Final score read 10-07 in favor of MAS ‘A’

Man of the Final Award was won by Nigel Ratwatta while Gayan Weerarathene won the 2015 Mercantile rugby 7’s player of the tournament and rode home a motor bike.

Scores from day 03