With over 20 teams, Mercantile Rugby 7s kicks off today

The Mercantile Rugby Football Association (MRFA), formed in 1966 will reach a significant milestone when it conducts its 50th tournament from 23 to 24 September at the CR&FC grounds, Longdon Place, commencing 8.30 a.m. on both days.

The men’s tournament will be conducted alongside with the fifth Women’s Tag Rugby Sevens.

Both tournaments are revived after a lapse of two years with last contest held in July 2019.

The 22 men’s teams and three women’s teams have attracted the “Golden” tournament which were pooled into six groups at the Captains and Secretaries briefing held last week.

Four teams, namely John Keells “Blue” and John Keells “White”, Dialog Axiata “A” and 3DH International will play in the “Cup” and “Plate” championship segment.

The rest of the 18 teams in 04 groups will play in the “Bowl” and “Shield” championship categories, as follows.

• Pool “A”: Hela Apparel, Attune Lanka, National Development Bank (NDB), Dasa Solutions, and MAS Holdings
• Pool “B”: LOLC, Sampath Bank, Fairfirst Insurance and Ceylinco General Insurance “B”
• Pool “C”: GSS International, Brandix Lanka, Dialog Axiata “B” and Moresand Technologies
• Pool “D”: Citizens Develo-pment Business (CDB), Ceylinco General Insurance “A”, DFCC Bank, HSBC and Softlogic Holdings

The three teams playing in the Women’s Tournament are: Attune Lanka, Citizens Development Business (CDB) and Sampath Bank

Dasa Solutions, GSS International and Moresand Technologies will be making their debut in the tournament.

The tournament will be officiated by the Referees appointed by Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees. In the previous tournament held in 2019, MAS Holdings and Access Group were joint winners of the “Cup”; John Keells “A” won the “Plate”; Brandix Intimates won the “Bowl” and 3DH International won the “Shield”; MAS Attune won the Women’s Tag Rugby.