The Butani Buccaneers champs

The Butani Buccaneers 2005 stormed through to stun the massive crowd at the 35th Mercantile Rugby 7's under lights, recently.

Favourites Seylan Bank were very consistent all throughout the tournament and lost only in the final. The Butani boys despite much experience in Liyanage, Rodrigo, Dilanka, Danushka Perera, Lewke, Milinda etc; looked out of it in the semis against John Keells as they won (just) a bruising game with Liyanage limping off with a strained knee ligament and Lewke with a broken nose were certainly not fit to play the final thus making Seylan "hot" favourites with their star studded line up.

With Jabbar, Rodrigo and Milinda Jayasinghe plus good work rate and support from Dilanka, Bohoran and Udayakumara, Seylan were tackled and stifled preventing them from playing their normal fast game and eventually the latter succumbed to pressure giving the Buccaneers the title not before a heavily strapped Liyanage came on for a scintillating 75 meter try, despite the injury.

This effectively tore the heart out of Seylan and shocked a full house at the CR & FC much to the delight of the sponsors.

No one could have imagined the result or the impact the Butani Buccaneers had on the final. This win for Butani clearly reflect that history and destiny were not to be denied even after a 15 year wait is ample evidence that the Butani Rugby tradition with Kishin "Boots" Butani at the helm is very much alive and kicking, even mor significantly with young Rajiv Butani showing great skill, courage and fitness living up the reputation as a true Buccaneer!

This venture coupled with the victory indicative of Butani's investment in to professional rugby management is a great achievement and shows the way for 7's rugby in this country. Satisfied players, totally secure, with good planning, and a professional focus will always yield excellent results.

Hassan "fix IT" Sinhawansa as manager with Prabath Fernando as his able assistant and the ever so versatile Amith Dhammika as Physiotherapist and a big come back for Coach Chandrishan "The Shark" Perera, whose approach and format for 7's rugby is based on a "No pain, No Gain" theory much to the delight of the squad members (after the tournament) is an unforgettable experience.

With both teams winning the Cup and the Plate thus grabbing the major honours the Butani Buccaneers lived up to their reputation and their motto "No Seasons, No Survivors"

This sets up a great challenge for the super 7's in February 2006!