Sri Lanka secures Shield at Commonwealth Rugby Sevens

Tuesday, 29 July 2014 00:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel Sri Lanka tasted victory at last at the XX Commonwealth Games when they went past a helpless Trinidad and Tobago outfit by 43-7 in Glasgow, Scotland on Sunday in order to secure the Shield trophy. South Africa ended New Zealand’s dominance at the Commonwealth Games, winning the gold medal match in an enthralling final at a sold-out Ibrox Stadium 17-12. This is the first-ever time New Zealand lost a game at the Commonwealth Rugby Sevens since its inception in Malaysia 1998. After a world-record 171,000 fans packed into Ibrox for two fine days of action, Sri Lanka got into action from Shield semi-final onwards when they outclassed the Barbados outfit 34-0 and move towards the final against another Caribbean Island Trinidad and Tobago 43-7. Anurudha Wilvara, Shehan Pathirana, Richard Dharmapala, Srinarth Sooriyabandara (2) and Fazil Mrija (2) scored the tries for Sri Lanka in the Shield final. Fazil converted three of the tries while Mithun Hapugoda added one try conversion. Fazil contributed 16 points in the final game. Australia won the Bronze beating Samoa 24-0 and England won the Plate beating Wales 17-15, Canada won the Bowl defeating Uganda 32-0.