CR clinch Rugby Sevens Title after 14 years

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

The Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club staged a superb fight-back to beat a gallant Air Force outfit by 21 points (three goals) to 17 (one goal, two tries) in the Cup Championship final of the Club Rugby Sevens played at Longden Place yesterday after trailing 7-17 at the breather.

It was way back in 1996 that the Red Shirts last won the Rugby Sevens title under the leadership of their present coach Viraj Prasantha.

It was the Airmen who opened scoring in the fourth minute when fly half Chanaka Chandimal dashed through over 30 metres to score mid right but he failed to add the extra points (Air Force 5-0).

Two minutes later the Red Shirts snatched the lead when scrum half Srinath Sooriyabandara made a break and slipped out a pass to Bilal Hassen who crashed through for a try under the posts to give Ashan de Costa an easy kick at goal. The Airmen came back storming two minutes later when scrum half Milinda Jayasinghe put the finishing touches to a move begun in midfield by scoring under the posts. Chanaka Chandimal converted and Air Force led 12-7.

On the stroke of half time the Airmen increased the lead when Milinda Jayasinghe who had a grand game fell over for an unconverted try by the right corner flag to give the Airmen a 17-7 lead at ‘lemons’.

The Red Shirts dominated the second half and in the second minute fly half Reza Mubarak began a move in midfield, punted ahead and collected on the follow through to touch down under the posts and converted it himself to make it 17-14. In the fourth minute of the second half CR winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe collected a pass in the CR ‘25’ and made a breathtaking 80 metre run to score under the posts which was converted by Reza Mubarak, to give CR and FC a glorious 21-17 win and the Rugby Sevens title after 14 years. CR and FC entered the final by beating Navy Sports Club by 14 points to 12 in the semi-final while Air Force scored a smashing 29-7 win over Army in the other semi-final.

The champion CR and FC squad comprised Danushka Perera (captain), Ashen Karthelis, Bilal Hassen, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Ashan de Costa, Dinusha Chathuranga, Reza Mubarak, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Lasintha de Costa, Nigel Ratwatte, Dushanth Lewke, Ishan Noor.

The Sri Lanka Air Force ‘B’ team bagged the Plate Trophy with a smashing 29 points (two goals, three tries) to 12 (one goal, one try) win over CR and FC ‘B’ in the final while CH and FC ‘A’ took the Bowl Trophy with a runaway 43 points (four goals, three tries) to 5 (one try) win over Navy Trinco in the final.

The Shield final was won by Havelocks ‘B’ who scored a convincing 31 points (three goals, two tries) to 10 (two tries) win over Galle RFC in the final.

Cup championship

Quarter-finals:

CR and FC ‘A’ beat Navy ‘B’ 65-0.

Navy ‘A’ beat CR and FC ‘B’ 31-0.

Air Force ‘A’ beat Air Force ‘B’ 33-10.

Army ‘A’ beat Police ‘A’ 21-7.

Semi-finals:

CR and FC ‘A’ beat Navy ‘A’ 14-12.

Air Force ‘A’ beat Army ‘A’ 29-7.

Final: CR and FC beat Air Force 21-17.

Plate semi-finals:

CR and FC ‘B’ beat Navy ‘B’ 21-12.

Air Force ‘B’ beat Police ‘A’ 35-12.

Final: Air Force ‘B’ beat CR and FC 29-12.

Bowl semi-finals:

CH and FC ‘A’ beat Havelocks ‘A’ 24-14.

Navy Trinco beat Police ‘B’ 24-19.

Final: CH and FC ‘A’beat Navy Trinco 43-5.

Shield final: Havelocks ‘B’ beat Galle RFC 31-10.