The Dialog Mercantile Rugby 7s tournament is to be held on the 30th, 31st of May and the 1st of June at the CR&FC grounds.
The 7 a side tournament organized by the Mercantile Rugby Football Association for the 44th time will see 39 teams taking part. This tournament which is organized solely to provide exposure and to nurture the nation’s rugby will take on a carnival like atmosphere on all 3 days according to the organizers.
As Dialog Axiata comes in as the main sponsor for the 12th consecutive year, the tournament will be co-sponsored by leading Smartphone Company Samsung. ThePapare.com joins hands as the web partner and will provide live streaming on all three days from the CR&FC grounds making sure the viewers at home won’t miss out on any of the action.
The 39 teams will take on each other for the Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield prizes. There will also be special prizes for players. All winners and runners up will receive Mobile phones courtesy Samsung. The most outstanding player of the tournament will ride away on a brand new motor cycle, the man of the final will receive a 32” LED TV and all other special award winners will walk away with Blue ray DVD players.
The 39 teams of which Belco Asia and Attune Lanka will be included as the new additions will be playing off in the categorize as follows with defending Champions MAS Holdings playing in the ‘Cup’ championship Pool A and last year’s runner’s up Nation Lanka Finance playing in Pool B.
Tournament Format :
A B
|
MAS Holdings (A) |
Nation Lanka Finance |
|
Dialog (A) |
MAS Holdings (B) |
|
John Keels (B) |
John Keels (A) |
|
Access Group (A) |
Dialog (B) |
|
Sampath Bank |
Access Group (B) |
Bowl
C D
|
Citizans Development Bank |
Commercial Bank |
|
Janashakhthi |
Amana Bank |
|
Hutch Telecom |
Brandix |
|
————- |
Entrust |
E F
|
Sri Lanka Insurance |
Commercial Credit |
|
Commercial Leasing |
Ceylinco Insurance |
|
NTB |
Belco Asia |
|
HSBC (A) |
Kandurata Umbrella |
Shield
G H
|
Ceylon Tobacco Co. |
Amana Takaful Insurance |
|
Central Finance |
Ceylon Tea |
|
Expo Lanka |
LB Finance |
|
HDPL |
Rainco |
I J
|
HSBC (B) |
Virtusa |
|
NDB |
Hidramani |
|
Attune Lanka |
Millenium IT |
|
|
|
As the above tables suggest one can only expect exciting nail -biting rugby on display on the 3 days of fun filled enjoyment. Further the Mercantile tournament often display’s hidden rugby talents of players who are not in main-stream rugby.
On Friday the 30th of May play will commence at 2.30 p.m. as it is a weekday but, the start of a long awaited rugby filled weekend and the games will go on till 7.30 p.m. with the latter matches will be played under floodlights.
The 2nd day of the tournament Saturday the 31st of May, matches will commence in the morning at 8.30 a.m. and will continue on till 6 in the evening.
The 3rd and final day the 1st of June will see matches from the quarter finals to the finals being played commencing from 8.30am and will conclude with the “Cup” Finals being played under lights at 6.30 p.m.
There will also be special awards being awarded to the participating rugby players.
Cup – Most outstanding player of the tournament – Mohan Daniel challenge trophy.
Man of the Final – Premraj Peris challenge trophy.
Plate – Most promising player – Capt. Matthew George Challenge trophy.
Bowl – Most up & coming player
Shield – Best performance.
Taking a look back at last year’s tournament which was graced by an unannounced visit by HE Mahinda Rajapaksha held on the 10th and 11th of August 2013 at the CR&FC grounds, 34 teams participated and MAS Holdings A walked off as the “Cup” Champions beating then defending champions Nation Lanka Finance 31 – 17. John Keels B beat Commercial bank 24 – 20 to win the “Plate” Championship. The “Bowl” champions were Citizen Development bank who beat Commercial Credit and finance 17 – 12 and Brandix essentials won the “Shield” Championship beating Amana Takaful in the finals 24 – 05.
With the conclusion of a highly successful tournament last year, the organizers play on making this year’s edition an even more exciting . On the aspect of the sport, this tournament evidently does wonders to provide an opportunity for sportsman and this definitely paves the way for young aspiring rugby players to make their way to peak and enter the international stage.
Catch live action on ThePapare.com which will bring you live updates on all 3 days.
