The breath taking tournament of endless rugby wrapped up its 5th edition on the 3rd of August 2013 at the Race course grounds.
The final match concluding the unabridged rugby gala was held between the Jaffna Challengers and the Sabaragamuwa Stallions. The spectators were roaring and the teams did the needful to satisfy the fervent audience – 3 consecutive tries from Levani Botiafor Sabaragamuwa Stallions within the first few minutes. It was a magnificent start; many had been expecting flowing rugby in action and though tiresome, the rugby players did not let their fans down.
The next two tries were also shared among foreign players: Inera Collins and AutogaviaFaatonia. Collins was the ice breaker for Jaffna Challengers. This was a very important try for the point thirst of the Jaffna Challengers who were left behind for the first time in the tournament by stallions. They did not let the ball get away for long minutes. Defensing in a 7s side was difficult but the Stallions didn’t want a single try cross the line. Obviously the 6th try of the game was also from the Sabaragamuwa Stallions. This was the first and the only try from a national tusker. Chula Susantha from Navy was able to break the defenses around 25 meters away from the try line where he dashed through to claim the try.
The 7th try was again to the Sabaragamuwa Stallions in which Isles Carlin grabbed the ball from a long range kick at a very advantageous point. There was no hesitation from the opponents what so ever to these well deserved points.
Even though the Jaffna Challengers were trying to fight back the Sabaragamuwa Stallions seemed to be a step ahead alive to their moves. Faring very well in the first leg, Jaffna Challengers were ahead by a 12 points compared to the Stallions with an overall point total of 24 – 12. However this final game in the second leg proved that Stallions have cracked the code. They were adding on the bonus points while not allowing the Challengers to score any.
Finally the wrap up try just before the clock went off was from the Jaffna Challengers. William Ambaha was driving to the corner not letting the tail to break him down. But so far the Jaffna folks had a very limited number of tries compared to stallions. This resulted the final scores of 47-14 in favor of Stallions. Sure, the Sabaragamuwa plan worked and they could beat the Challengers in bonus points to be the champs in the 2nd leg. This was not good enough a reply to the 12 point lead. At the end of Jaffna Challengers remained the champions of the tournament with an overall 45 points victory while Stallions were way behind with 36 points.
At the third place Nothern Gladiators were not far behind the Sabaragamuwa Folks with 32 points. Sharing the 2nd runners up position with the Gladioators were the Western Warriors. The highlight of the Western Warriors was that Yoshitha Rajapaksha brought the award for ‘highest no. of tries in the tournament’ to the team. North Western Blacks were one point behind – with 31 points –at the 3rd runners up position which pushed them all the way to the 5th place. North Central Typhoons, Uva Vipers, Central Kings Eastern Eagles and Southern Sharks were placed 6th 7th 8th 9th and 10th respectively with 29, 23 21 and 20 points.
Gracing the award ceremony was the First Lady, Mr. ShiranthiRajapaksha. With massive crowd support and enormous sponsor upkeep the Carlton 7s came to an end stretching lifelong experiences to the local rugby players, and marking an unforgettable memory to the rugby fans and the enthusiasts around country.
