Sizzling Carlton 7s rugby colour up Race Course

Western Warriors won the group A despite losing one game while Central Kings won all their 4 matches to lead the group B as a brilliant day of fast and open 7s rugby ended on Friday evening. 

Champions of the 1st leg in Koggala, Western Warriors started off their campaign in Colombo with an easy 26-00 win over Sabaragamuwa Stallions. Skipper Yoshitha Rajapakshe scored 2 tries and speedy Fijian winger Joeli Lutumaelagi planted 2 tries for the mighty Warriors.

Game number 2 for the day worked out between Uva Vipers vs Northern Gladiators and the 4th ranked team in Koggala won their 1st match beating Fazil Marija’s Gladiators 21-15. DJ Forbes, Sandun Herath  and Tomasi Cama scored the tries for the Vipers while Jasa Veremalua, Niua Falau and Dhanushka Ranjan touched down tries for the Gladiators.

Replacement Fijian winger Semi Kunitani scored a hat-trick of tries as first runner-up of the Koggala leg, Southern Sharks flattened Jaffna Challengers by 45-7 in the 3rd game of the first day. Other try scorers for the Sharks were Srinath Sooriyabandara, Pio Tuwai and Dinusha Chathuranga. David Batiratu scored the only converted try for the losing team, Jaffna Challengers.

Matt Turner scored yet another hat-trick for Central Kings as Rohitha Rajapakshe’s king mates beat Typhoons from North Central province by 31-07 points in the 4th match of the day. Stephan Hunt scored the only points for the losing Typhoons.

Eastern Eagles in Pink got off to a winning start in Colombo as they beat Stallions from Sabaragamuwa province by 29-14 points. Emosi Vucago, Rehan Thiyagarajah, Gayantha Iddamalgoda, Villiame Mata and Mohammed Sheriff crossed the try line for the winners while Fatua Otto and Richie Dharmapala scored tries for the Stallions.

Biggest surprise of the day came in the 6th match of the day when Northen Gladiators beat the high-riding Western Warriors with a try in the last minute by David Halaifonua as the final scores read 19-15 points. Sheer brilliance was on display as both teams played exciting open 7s rugby. Joeli Lutumailagi, Emori Waqavulagi and Joseph Dunn recorded tries for the Warriors while Mithun Hapugoda, Mosese Mawalu and David Halaifonua scored the tries for the Gladiators.

Jaffna Challengers managed to fend off a stiff challenge from North Western Blacks as the 7th game of the 1st day ended with Challengers winning the game by 19-14 points. Ignacio Martin, Sajith Saranga and skipper Saliya Kumara were the try scorers for the winners while Pium Jayasinghe’s first half try and a penalty try helped Blacks.

Southern Sharks ran havoc against North Central Typhoons as Semi Kuntani scored 4 brilliant tries as the Sharks won the 8th game for the evening by 41-00 points. George Tilsey (2), Kavindu De Costa (1) and Shehan ‘Lema’ Pathirana (1) crossed the try line for the Vipers while Mohammed Sheriff was the lone try scorer for the Eagles as boys from Uva won the game by 26-7 points.

Niko Verekauta scored 2 tries as Northern Gladiators beat Sabaragamuwa Stallions by 25-12 points as the first half of the day 1 in Colombo ended. Richard Dharmapala touched down twice as Central Kings continued their purple patch beating North Western Blacks by 19-12 points. North Central Typhoons finally got back to their winning ways as Ruhan Nel and Hirantha Perera planted tries against Jaffna Challengers managed only 5 points to the 19 points of the Typhoons.

Fijian born Sri Lankan Joseph Dunn touched down thrice as Western Warriors were too strong for the Uva Vipers as Yoshitha Rajapakshe’s men won the game 41-05. Fijian contingent for the Northern Gladiators helped them overcome the Eagles as they won their final game on day 1 by 22-17 points.

Central Kings took the lead in the group B as they defeated the strong Southern Sharks by 28-17 points in the 15th match of the day. Speedster Anuruddha Wilwara excelled for the Kings as he scored a hat-trick of tries. Mark Richards scored a pair of superb individual brilliance tries as North Central Typhoons won their 2nd game of the evening beating North Western Blacks by 29-10.

New Zealanders George Tilsey and Tim Mikkelson scored two tries each as Uva Vipers comprehensively won their game against Sabaragamuwa Stallions by 31-10 points as the final set of matches commenced under lights.

Western Warriors shrugged off their poor performance against Northern Gladiators as they outran Eastern Eagles by 40 points to nothing in their final fixture on Friday evening. Former Fijian skipper Setefano Cakau impressed with 2 excellent tries.

Central Kings ended their day on an unbeaten note as they gunned down a spirited Jaffna Challengers outfit by 12-10 in the penultimate game. Richard Dharmapala scored the match-winning try for the Kings. Suhiru Anthony scored two tries for Southern Sharks as the final match of the night ended in the favour of the Sharks as the final scores read 29-12.

Top Try Scorers on Day 1

Semi Kuntani – 8 (Southern Sharks)

Joseph Dunn – 6 (Western Warriors)

Joeli Lutumailagi – 5 (Western Warriors)

Srinath Sooriyabandara – 4 (Southern Sharks)