Defending champions Upcountry Lions will not take part as the club withdrew from domestic rugby; however former upcountry players have joined the other clubs and will be taking part in the tournament. The tournament will kick off at the Race Course grounds on the 14th & 15th June at 9.00am.
A few weeks ago we witnessed some exciting rugby played in the Mercantile Rugby 7’s. This week too they will play each other but for different teams where they will compete for the Dialog Club Rugby 7’s title.
Havelock’s Sports Club who became the runners-up last year has many national seven players in their side. One such key player is Shenal Dias who has flown from the USA for Mercantile 7’s and Inter club 7’s and it is envisaged that he will play the Carlton 7’s and the Commonwealth 7’s for the Tuskers. Mohamed Sheriff, Chamara Dabare, Sudarshana Muthuthantri Mithun Hapugoda and Sharo Fernando will strengthen their ranks.
Kandy Sports club is always a tough team to beat be in any format of the game. Sri Lanka 7’s captain Fazil Marija’s experience will play a significant part. He is also assisted by former Sri Lanka 7’s captain Pradeep Liyanage who will lead the side and was in great form aiding the MAS team to victory last week at Mercantile 7’s. Lavanga Perera is a young outstanding player who is in good form. Talking about in form players one will not forget Anurudda Wilwara who was electrifying at the Mercantile sevens and was adjudged player of the tournament at that tournament.
Navy Sports club on the other hand is also in line as favorites Lee Keegal, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Dinusha Chathuranga, Saliya Handapangoda, Jason Dissanayake and Sajith Saranga all have great amount of local and international experience which will play a huge role in their performance.
CR & FC and Army will play with youngsters meanwhile most of the Lions players are expected to play for the Maitland Crescent club. This will help CH & FC to field in a formidable sevens unit.
Air Force and Police will play with their experienced players whilst the Fijian brothers are expected to play for Hambanthota Sharks.
It will be interesting to see how these players go about the shorter format of the game where Sri Lanka has been excelling over the past few years. There are quite a few in form players and the Rugby played over the weekend will no doubt be eye-catching drawing large crowds to the picturesque Race course grounds.
The tournament will be conducted as per the IRB 7s format where the Cup, Plate, Bowl, Shield will be contested. There will be a 3rd place play-off for the Cup segment and all 4 categories will play for the championship and runners up awards.
Sixteen teams are scheduled to take the field; Air force (3) Army (3) Police (1) Navy (2) CR&FC (2) CH & FC (1) Kandy (2) Hambanthota Sharks (1) Petersons (1)
Semi-finals of all stages will commence around 1.30pm on Sunday and run through until the Cup final.
Don’t miss the electrifying shorter format of the game played by the best in the country!
