The Western Province Open 7s Championship took place today at Havelock Park in wet conditions with the finals played under lights. Navy Dreadnaughts won the Cup final 12 – 10 against the CR & FC A.
This championship was categorized into 3 segments namely Segment one with top 8 teams, Segment two with 6 teams and the Development Segment with 12 teams.
In the Segment 1 quarter-finals Navy Dreadnaughts defeated Police with ease by 19 – 05. CR & FC B sprung a surprise by beating CH & FC 22 – 07. CR & FC A overcame Air Force 17 – 12 and Navy Seahorse overpowered the young Havelock side 19 nil.
After the exciting four quarterfinals, the championship moved into the Segment two where Navy Wave Riders defeated Air Force Chipmunks 19-14 in a nail-biting encounter to win the Plate final. The Cup Final of the Segment two took place between CH & FC B and Air Force Katunayake side. CH B won this thrilling game with a last minute try and the score stood at 12-07. In this game 5 players were sent to the sin bin by the referee.
Moving back to the top segment, the bowl semi-finals were worked off with Police getting the better of the CH A side 24-12. In the second semi-final Air Force won a tight game against the inexperienced Havelock side 5 nil.
The Cup semi-final was played under lights With Navy Dreadnaughts advancing to the final by defeating CR B 12 nil. In the second semi-final CR & FC A humiliated the Navy Seahorse 43 nil to enter the Cup final.
After two exhilarating games the championship moved back to the development segment where Plate and Cup finals took place. Old Bens clinched the Plate final by trashing old Kannagara SC 28-05 and in the Cup final Black Hawks won 12 – 05 in a closely contested game against the Old Mudaliyans.
The Bowl final of top segment was played between the Police and the Air Force. Gayantha Iddamalgoda scored a last minute try with a 60 meter dash to win the game 14-12 for the Airmen.CR & FC B won the Plate final with ease by defeating Navy Sea Horse 22-07.
The Cup final CR & FC A vs Navy Dreadnaughts
CR kicked off the proceedings of the much awaited cup final. Ashan De costa ran through the Navy defense to put his side into the lead early on. Soon after the try, Navy were one man down with Thilina Wijesinghe in the sin bin but Mohomad Abzal equalized just before half time.
Half Time – CR 05 (1T) – 05 (1T) Navy
Navy kicked off the second half proceedings and Lahiru Hearth broke through the heart of the CR defense with his pace to put his team in to the lead; Navy added the important two points to move to a 7 point lead .Randitha Waranpura overpowered two Navy defenders to score in the last move of the game. However, Ashan De Costa couldn’t add the extra points and Navy Dreadnaughts were crowned champions of the Western Province 7’s.
Full Time – CR 10 (2T) – 12 (2T,1C) Navy
Lahiru Hearth (Navy Dreadnaughts) was named Up and Coming Player of the Tournament
