Defending champions Seylan Bank ‘A’ led by second rower Dinesh Sanjeewa and comprising of Abdul Jabbar, Tuan Shamrock and Sri Lanka’s first choice scrum half Amjad Buksh laid down the gauntlet at the 38th Mercantile Rugby Sevens tournament sponsored by Dialog and played at Longden Place yesterday. They first easily beat Ceylinco by 21 points to 7 and then defeated pre-tournament favourites Emjay International by 21 points to 5. Earlier Emjay were given a fright by Ceylinco ‘A’ in their league match.

Mercantile rugby 7s in progress yesterday. Pic by Sanka Vidanagama

Emjay led by Sri Lankan centre Pradeep Liyanage and comprising the likes of Saliya Kumara, Mohommad Sheriff, Faazil Marija and the Weerakkody brothers Eranda and Nalaka, scraped through to a 10 to 7 win after leading by five points to nil at lemons.

Emjay meanwhile had another close call against Asia Capital led by Radhika Hettiarachchi. Emjay prevailed by 19 points to 12. Another pre tournament favourite for the Cup namely John Keels ‘A’ who are led by Wasim Thajudeen and comprising of Dushanth Lewke, Suranga Pushpakumara, utility forward Ishan Noor and Samantha Lakshan, easily beat Hatton National Bank by 19 points to nil.

Asia Capital made up for their loss against Emjay by scoring 50 points against a hapless Amana team. Following is the quarter final line-up to be played today at the same venue beginning at 8.45 am.
Cup: Seylan Bank – Sampath Bank, Emjay International – Hatton National Bank, Asia Capital – Commercial Bank and Ceylinco ‘A’ – John Keells. The losers in the quarter finals will play each other in the semi finals for the Plate.

Bowl: Sri Lanka Insurance – Union Bank, Suntel - Ceylinco ‘B’, Dialog ‘A’ – Lanka Bell and Powerscan – Dissanayake Enterprises.

Shield: Metropolitan – Softlogic, Janashakthi – E-wis, Lanka Hospitals – Dialog ‘B’ and Hirdramani ‘B’ – Standard Chartered Bank.