The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union commenced its Inter-club 7s at Havelock Sports Club grounds last afternoon. The event was re-scheduled for noon to carry on into playing under flood-lights at the request of the clubs.
The kick off for the rugby 7s wasn’t backed by the weather conditions. The gloomy skies continuing for the weekend was turning showers on and off was not conducive for 7s rugby. First to battle through the hostile weather were Upcountry lions and the Police (B) team. Lions the clear giant was crushing compared to Police (B) settling for a 34 – 0. Two tries came from each No. 11 R. Shanaka and No. 05 Srinath Sooriyabandara for the Upcountry Lions and the most remarkable performance was on from the kicker Nigel Ratwatte who was playing at No. 06. He converted four tries and was able to score a try himself.
Next game was not that different from the previous, considering the final scores: 26 – 0. CR & FC’s best, (A) team, was on against Air Force (B) team. Scoring two tries Vishwamithra Jayasinghe stood out from the CR camp. Apart from that a try and conversion was noted from each Mushin Faleel and Sajid Suhaib on to impressive total of CR & FC against the Air Force (B). Tables its seemed were turned quickly for Club CR as their (B) team battled with the finest of the Navy. The total was 31 – 05 with a great performance by S Pushpakumar playing at no. 13 for Navy. His addition of 13 points to the total with tries by Sajith Saranga, Chula Susantha and Abzal Mohommed made up the impressive total. Only try for CF and FC was by Duminda Nayakarath.
As the afternoon passed by it was once again interrupted by the weather making the field muddy as the evening progressed. However, the play continued on the track making the event a success after all. Taking on Army (A) team it was CR FC (A). This was a close game with much attention from the crowd. Final results were at 24 – 21 CR beating the Army team by 3 points. Amazingly the performances of both sides were dispersed among the key players leaving no outstanding trouper for Army while Kumara Nilan from CR had two tries and conversions to his personal score.
The games lined up next had similar scores of 5 on the defeating sides. Kandy (A) vs Navy (B) was at 26 – 05 and Air Force to Peterson with a 33 – 05. The 7th game for the day was Havelock SC and Kandy (B). AT no. 06 for Havelock SC Mithun Hapugoda made remarkable game with two conversions and a try. As the performances dictated the overall game turned ‘Havelock SC’ with a final score of 33 – 07
From this point of the day an increment in the performances of the winning teams were visible. Police to Army marking a 39 – 0, Upcountry Lions to Air Force 40 – 05 and finally the highest winning margin was by Police 48 defeating CR FC (A) 0
In the next round Navy (A) having already beaten CR FC (B) was taking on CR FC. The outcome was not that much different to the previous, with Navy putting together a striking 24 to which CR replied with just a solitary try. The 12th game of the day was again CR & FC (B) battling against Army (A) was an amazing recovery but it wasn’t good enough. In this game CR FC (B) made up 12 points but missed the chance of winning by 7 points.
Kandy (A) was proving to be a strong side once again with 45 – 0 against Peterson. Darshana Ettipola was on fire with three tries playing at Number 8 for Kandy. Lavanga Perera, Kanchana Ramanayake and Anurudha Wilwara also equally contributed to the Kandy spell of 45 points. As the rain was closing in the final game to be completed was Air Foce (A) Vs. Navy (B). As it was clearly experienced throughout the day the (A) team beating the (B) didn’t change. Summing up the match for a 19 – 05.
At this point of the day the lights were on to defend the gloominess. However the rain fall was a terrible obstacle which paused the game for longer hours. Still we can expect an exciting set of games to continue on the 5 of May.
