Isipathana wallop Vidyartha to claim inaugural NSBM 7’s

Isipathana College were unstoppable in the cup final, defeating the helpless Vidyartha College 47-7, to take home the cup championship of the inaugural ‘NSBM under-21 sevens’ tournament worked off at the Racecourse International stadium.

St. Joseph’s College defeated Trinity College 36-00 to claim the plate segment, while Sri Sumangala College and Ananda College got the better of Mahanama and St. Aloysius College to take away the bowl and shield segments respectively.

The Cup final was the most one sided affair of a rather entertaining tournament, in which the old boys got one final opportunity to put on their college colors. Isipathana College made easy work out of Vidyartha College, who finally ran out of ideas following a sensational tournament.

Pathana were put to the test by St. Joseph’s in the semi-final, but the Green Machine held on for a narrow 24-21 win. Meanwhile, Vidyatha College put an end to Trinity College’s title hopes in the 2nd semi-final, beating the fellow Kandy rivals to progress to the final.

Just 45 seconds into the final Chamod Fernando made a scintillating break, through the heart of the Vidartha defense, splintering his opposition to score a converted try under the sticks.

Pathana capitalized there onwards, as they tore the Vidyartha side into pieces. Rehan Silva, Vageesha Weerasinghe and Devin Gunarathne all got their names on the score sheet as Pathana piled on the points, to leave a fatigued Vidyartha outfit to settle for second spot.

Fulltime: Isipathana College 47 beat Vidyartha College 07

Earlier in the day, the new tournament made its debut in the Sri Lankan Rugby calendar. Sixteen teams which included 15 School teams and one selection side, separated into four groups of four teams each, took the field to fight it out under their College colors.

St. Anthony’s college topped ‘group A’ with three wins, and Thurstan College ended in second place due to the loss against the Kandy school. St. Aloysius College and Sri Piyarathne ended third and fourth respectively in the group.

Vidyartha College defeated St. Peter’s college which was their first big scalp in the tournament, took take first place, handing the Peterites the second place. Mahanama College and Hindu College ended third and fourth respectively in ‘group B’.

Trinity College was defeated by Isipathana College, as the Green Machine started off in flying fashion to top ‘group C’. Trinity ended in 2nd place, leaving Sri Sumangala College and Zobra in third and fourth in ‘group C’.

And ‘Group D’ saw a superlative St. Joseph’s college outfit take away the top spot, leaving Dharmaraja college to settle for second place. Ananda College took third place and Lumbini finished in fourth place.

The top two teams of each group made their way into the cup quarter-finals, while the third and fourth battled it out in the Bowl segment.

St. Aloysius, Mahanama, Sri Sumangala and Ananda College were the first four victorious quarter finalists as their quest for the bowl continued, with the four losers going home packing early in the afternoon.

Three quarter finals in the cup segment were arch rival battles as Anthony’s college took on Trinity College, St. Peters College went up against St. Joseph’s college and Isipathana College against Thurstan College.

The cup quarterfinals took a more competitive look with better rugby on display. Trinity, Vidyartha, Isipathana and St. Joseph’s won their games to keep their hopes alive. It was the end of the tournament for the losing teams.

The 1st semi-final for the bowl was dominated by Mahanama as they defeated St. Aloysius. And Sri Sumangala got the better of Ananda in surprising fashion in the 2nd Semi-final.

Vidyartha continued to be the giant killers as they sent Trinity packing into the plate segment, meanwhile a semi-final worthy of a cup final saw Isipathana take on St. Joseph’s College.

Isipathana got off to a flyer, leaving the Josephian’s in the dust, at 24-07. St. Josephs regrouped and fought back with two converted tries. But time ran out for the boys from Darley road, leaving them to battle it with Trinity for the Plate segment.

Three out of the four finals were rather one sided affairs, as Ananda, St. Joseph’s and Isipathana cruised to victory in their respective finals.

The single competitive final was between Sri Sumangala and Mahanama College for the bowl final. However, time ran out for Mahanama as they fell short by two points, leaving Sri Sumangala victorious.

Shield Final:

Bowl Final:

Plate Final: