The 49th Mercantile Sevens Tournament kicked off last Friday (19th) and ended in a rather dramatic way yesterday (21st) as Access and MAS Holdings were declared Joint Champs, after 3 days of exhilarating rugby at the CR & FC grounds.
However, similar to every year, this year saw some amazing individual performances in all segments of the tournament as well.
Here are the 5 players who @ThePapareRugby thought quite convincingly stole the spot light from the rest.
Shield Segment 
Dialog Axiata ‘B’, NDB, George Stuart and few other well experienced teams battled it out for the Trophy, but little did they know that the newbies to the whole mercantile circuit, 3DH International, a team led by the 2018 St. Joseph’s College skipper, Sameesha Virangana would go on to clinch the Shield.
However, Jason Karunarathne, the nippy scrum-half who played a vital role in last year’s St. Peter’s College team showed tremendous form throughout the 3 days and proved to be the difference between 3DH and the other teams. His two-try heroics in the semi’s against Dialog ‘B’ and in the final’s against George Stuart won his side the trophy and also the respect of many.
Bowl Segment 
Brandix Intimates who clinched the Bowl were quite unstoppable when at their best. A team comprised of some talented young guns, with the likes of Janith Chandimal, Udaya Sanjula and Ishaak Jurangpathy beat Access ‘B’ convincingly on their way to the podium.
However, the stand out in the orange and black jersey was the #5 Bhanuka Peiris who was in his element, scoring, creating and converting tries. The youngster was adjudged best player in the Bowl segment for his individual performance.
Cup Segment
The land of the ‘Big Boys’, where the ‘A’ Division Club players roamed, saw some elite experienced players being out-smart by school leavers who just didnt fail to impress everybody. One such character, the Access #13 Janidu Dilshan. The former Royalist, was on song in his attack and defence. What impressed the crowd the most was his one on one tackles on the National cap, Omalka Gunarathne.
He was also among the top try scorers for Access in their journey to defend the title. However, he is most definitely a prospect to become the next Gayan Weerarathne. 
The other two MVP’s came from the same team, MAS Holdings. Thilina Wijesinghe was scintillating in the plain white jersey. Switching from Dialog ‘A’ to MAS for this year’s edition of the tournament, he played a pivotal role in steering MAS into the finals.
In the drama filled final, Wijesinghe was awarded the player of the final for his exceptional performance in saving MAS from the jaws of defeat and keeping the championship hopes alive for his side. Not only was he making an impact with ball in hand, but Wijesinghe also made it a point to slot in the important two pointers from anywhere across the field. 
The player of the tournament, the former Kingswoodian, current CR & FC and Sri Lanka Sevens specialist , Reeza Raffaideen, ran riot throughout the 3 days of exciting sevens rugby, showing his dominance in torching the touch lines with his scintillating pace.
Not only is he one of the quickest, Raffaideen is also one of the fittest players in the country. His specialty lies in his game awareness and supporting lines that he runs all over the field. The 23 year old scored numerous tries from day 1 and also in the finals.
He received the award as the ‘Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament’ and ended his run in the competition riding his newly received bike. 
 and ended in a rather dramatic way yesterday (21st) as Access and MAS Holdings were declared Joint Champs, after 3 days of exhilarating rugby at the CR & FC grounds.){kind=link}