Marvelous Marija led his team with a 80m solo try in the finals of the second leg win over the North Central Typhoons at the D. A. Rajapaksa Stadium in Beliatta (22 – 15).
This was almost a repeat of the first leg of Carlton Super 7s final in Kurunegala where Typhoon became victorious. Therefore, both teams became joint champions overall with equal points of 47 each.
It was perfect weather for 7’s Rugby from the day one, on day two it was slightly overcast and windy and later on heavy showers began just before the play off matches. However, it was the perfect climax as the final got underway, the leading try scorer in the second leg Danushka Ranjan scoring the third try after Marija and Damian Ratwatte to level the score 15 – 15. Subsequently Emori scored the first two tries for the Typhoons and Hirantha Perera landed one under his belt.
The intensity was high as the scores were tied, Typhoons had the ball in hand in their 22m but the pass from the scrum to the Fijian Emori was well marked by the experience Pradeep Liyange as a result Emori was carried back 8metres to his own touch line by Liyanage. With that turn over Marija once again dummied passing to Sudarshana Muthuthantri and sneaked through a gap to score the winning try in the corner and responded with a solid conversion from a difficult angle.
3rd & 4th Place
North Western Blacks lost to the Northern Gladiators in the semifinals 15 – 21 and the Central Kings lost their semifinal game to the North Central Typhoons 21 – 17 in a close tussle. Blacks and Kings played for the 3rd & 4th play-off as a result in close game where the Blacks were able to secure the win and remain 3rd position in both the legs. Nigel Ratwatte, Richard Darmapala and Rohitha Rajapaksa scored for the Kings. It was great to see gigantic prop forward Heshan Kalhara played some aggressive and fast 7s rugby and scored the winning try for the Blacks. Lee Keegal and Mohamed Sheriff lived up to expectations.
5th & 6th Place
Eastern Eagles once again finished in the 5th spot in the both legs Chamara Dabare and Mohamed Absal were the key players for the Eagles. This time they went down against the Southern Sharks. Defending champions of last year’s local segment, the Southern Sharks could not perform well with their quality line up. However Srinath Sooriyabandara was electrifying as usual but their captain Dinusha Chathuranga was out with a niggle. Sharks finished 6th overall in both the legs.
7th & 8th Place
Chula Susantha’s Sabaragamuwa Stallions played well in day two after finishing in the bottom of pool B. Stallions beat Uva Vipers 19 – 12. Vipers on the other hand played much better 7s comparing to the leg in Kurunegala. Same team put up a better performance in Beliatta on day one where they finished 2nd in the group. Ashan De Costa and Sharo Fernando played really well for the Vipers and did not deserve to finish 8th place.
9th & 10th Place
Saliya Kumara’s Jaffna Challengers beat the Western Warriors 34 – 12 in the wooden spoon play off. Warriors had two major blows as their skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa and powerful Bilal Hassen got injured with a finger in the eye. Challengers played much better than the opposition in the play-off match for the 9th place.
Top try scorers (2nd leg)
Danushka Ranjan Northern Gladiators 10
Anurudda Wilwara North Central Typhoons 08
Aurada Herath Souther Sharks 07
Tharidu Chanaka Uva Vipers 07
Waqaulagi Emori North Central Typhoons 07
Chula Susantha Sabaragamuwa Stallions 06
