Southern Sharks

S M Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Corr

Southern Sharks scored a stunning 28 points (4 goals) to 26 (3 goals, 1 try) win over the favourites North Central Typhoons to finish in top spot at the end of first leg of Carlton Sevens played at the Race Course grounds, Nuwara Eliya yesterday. At half time Southern Sharkes led 14-12.

Southern Sharks were led by Srinath Suriyabandara and the match winner for them was former Trinity College Centre Mohamed Sashan who scored two tries both ending up under the posts. The other try scorers were Dinusha Chathuranga who also scored two tries. For North Central Typhoons Roshan Weeraratne, Anuruddha Wilwara, Iranga Ariyapala and Shanaka Kumara scored a try each. Irshard Cader refereed.

Western Warriors skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa evading a tackle by an Uva Vipers player.	A Northern Gladiators player evading a tackle by an Eastern Eagles player

Top try scorers of the tournament were Mohamed Afsal, Nuwan Hettiarachchi and Mohamed Afsal with 6 tries each.

One of the biggest upsets of the day was when Southern Sharks blasted the unbeaten record of the Northern Gladiators by defeating them 17 points (1 goal, 2 tries) to 12 (1 goal, 1 try) after leading 12-5 at the lemon.

Scoring the tries for Southern Sharks were Dinusha Fernando and Centre Mohamed Shashan (2) with Oshan Perera goalling on try. For Northern Gladiators Wishwamithra Jayasinghe scored both tries and Fazil Marija goalled one of them.

He must be recalled on the first day Northern Gladiators finished on top of Pool B and Southern Sharks were second in Pool B losing only to the North Central Typhoons who finished on top of this group on day one.

The results of other matches played during the day. North Central Typhoons beat Sabaragamuwa Stallion 14-123, Eastern Eagles beat North Western Blacks 20-7, Southern Sharks beat Central Kings 21-12 Northern Gladiators led Jaffna Challengers 40-5, Western Warriors beat Sabaragamuwa Stallions 31-0, Uva Vipers beat North Western Blacks 24-19, Western Warriors beat Central Kings 22-12, Uva Vipers beat Jaffna Challengers 21-7, North Central Typhoons beat Eastern Eagles 28-14, Southern Sharks beat Northern Gladiators 17-12.

In the play off for places Sabaragamuwa Stallions beat Jaffna Challengers 29-7 to finish 9th Jaffna Challengers finished last.

North Western Blacks ended up in the 7th place by defeating Central Kings 29-12. Try scorers for the winner were Gayan Weeraratne, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Mohamed Sherif, Lavanga Perera and Lee Keegal. For Central Kings who ended up in the 8th place Jason Dissanayake and Dinesh Kumara scored.

Western Warriors led by Sri Lanka skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa did extremely well to defeat Uva Vipers 28 points (4 goals) to nil to finish in 5th place.

Yoshitha Rajapaksa led from the front to score two scintillating tries and the other try scorers were Migara Wijeratne and Samitha Dananjaya. Uva Vipers finished in the 6th place.

One of the top favourites Northern Gladiators ended up in the third slot after defeating Eastern Eagle 33 points (4 goals, 1 try) to 12 (1 goal, 1 try). At half time winners led 19-7. It was Eastern Eagles who opened scoring but the Northern Gladiators came back into the game to romp home easy winners. Try scorers for Northern Gladiators were Lahiru Weerasinghe, Duminda Nanayakkara, Dharshana Etipola and Damien Ratwatte who scored two tries. For Eastern Eagles Mohamed Afsal and Susantha Gamage scored. Northern Gladiators finished third and Eastern Eagles in fourth placed.

The awards were distributed by Minister of Private Transport Services C B Ratnayake and Mayor of Nuwara Eliya Mahinda Kumara Dodampegama.