MAS Holdings led by Kandy’s brilliant scrum half, Roshan Weeraratne regained the Mercantile Rugby Football ‘plum’ at the 47th Mercantile ‘Sevens’ concluded at the Race Course International Rugby Stadium on Sunday.
MAS Holdings caused a sudden death to the defending ‘Cup’ Champions, Access Group in the final, when Weeraratne touched down in the 2nd period of extra time. The scores were leveled at 14/14 at full time and 7/7 at half time.
Anuruddha Wilwara drew first blood for MAS, Roshan Weeraratne converted (7/0). Richard Dharmapala scored and Dhanushka Ranjan converted, as Access Group equalized (7/7).
In the second half, Sandun Herath scored and Roshan Weeraratne converted to put MAS ahead (14/7). Richard Dharmapala fought like a trojan and touched down with Kevin Dixon adding the extra points, as Access drew level (14/14). The match went into over time, the scores still stood dead locked at the end of the first period of extra time (03 minutes). Then came the thunder bolt in the 2nd minute of the 2nd period of extra time which vanquished the defending champions Access, the try by Roshan Weeraratne (19/14). Irshad Cader Refereed.
MAS earlier won the ‘Cup’ in 2010, 11, 13, 14 and 15, they gave a miss to the tournament sighting player injuries after facing the draw in 2016. Sundun Herath from MAS was adjudged the Man of the Final and walked away with the Pemraj Peiris Memorial Challenge trophy.
Richard Dharmapala from Access, for the 2nd successive year lifted the Mohan Daniel Memorial Challenge Trophy for the Man of the Tournament and rode away with the ‘Yamaha’ F2 150 CC bike from AMW.
MAS won the Sajith Mallikarachchi Memorial Challenge Trophy award for ‘Fair Play’, voted by the Officiating Referees.
Newcomer to the ‘Cup’ Championship, Kanrich Finance won the play off for the 3rd place and took the ‘Plate’, beating another new comer in the big league, Citizens Development Business ‘A’. The final went into over time, as the scores were leveled at7/7 full time. KAnrich led 7/0 at half time. The winning try came in the 2nd period of extra time. Weranga Refereed.
Pabasara Hewage from Kanrich Finance won the Capt. Mathew George challenge Trophy, being the Most Promising Player.
Classic Travel had to fight every inch of the way to beat debutants, Clovetel 21/14 in the ‘Bowl’ Final. The scores were leveled 7/7 at half time. Ishanka Refereed. Clovetel made a dream debut, despite losing to Classic Travel, in the final. Clovetel remained unbeaten up to the final scoring 08 wins on the trot.
Gayan Weeraratne from Classic Travel was picked as the Most Up and Coming player.
Citizens Devep. Business ‘B’ won the 1st final that was played on Sunday, taking charge of the ‘Shield’, beating debutant, Fair first Insurance, 20/14, after leading 10/0 at half time.
It was another feather in the cap for CDB when their women won the 2nd Women’s Tag Rugby tournament. They trounced defending Champions, Ceylon tobacco Co. ‘A’ 25/0. CDB remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, beating CTC ‘A’ 15/5. Virtusa 10/0 and drawing with CTC ‘B’ 5/5 in the league stage.
The tournament was a significant one for MRFA, under the astute leadership of President, Shanaka Fernando from Informatics (formally at Heath & Co. and Metropolitan Group). MRFA broke tradition and took a bold step on shifting the venue from Longdon Place to Race Course, for the first time since 1966.
The tournament was jointly powered by two new sponsors - South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and Jaguar – Land Rover by SML Frontier Automotive (Pvt) Ltd.
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