Three newcomers for 47th Mercantile Rugby Football ‘Sevens’ 2017

AMW ‘A’, Mobitel, Kanrich Finance and Citizens Development Business (CDB) are the newcomers in the big league of the 47th Mercantile Rugby Football Sevens 2017, coming up on 21, 22 and 23 July at the Race Course International Stadium.

The tournament with 33 teams, conducted by the Mercantile Rugby Football Association under the Presidency of Shanaka Fernando, is jointly powered by South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and Jaguar Land Rover by SML Frontier Automotive Ltd.

The other debutants beside AMW are Clovetel, NOR Lanka, Hela Clothing, Prosperous Capital and Fair First Insurance. The tournament will kick off on Friday, 21 July at 1.00 p.m. and will conclude at 8.30 p.m. with a card of 32 matches. 

On Saturday, 22 July the rest of the league stage matches will be played from 8.00 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. encompassing 46 matches. 

The knockout stage, consisting of 20 matches including the four finals (Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield), will take place on the last day Sunday, 23 July at 10.00 a.m. and will conclude with the Cup Championship final scheduled at 6.45 p.m. under the blazing floodlights of the Race Course. 

The second Women’s Tag Rugby tournament will coincide with the Men’s Tournament on Sunday at 10.00 am. Four teams, namely CTC ‘A’ and ‘B’, Virtusa and CDB, have so far confirmed their participation, with more entries expected. 

The draw for the groups was held on Monday, 17 July at 6.30 p.m. at the CR&FC Pavilion PDR in the presence of the participating teams.

The grouping is as follows: 

Cup and Plate Championship (eight teams in two groups). 

Group ‘A’: Access Group (2016 winner), MAS Holdings (2015 winner), AMW ‘A’ and Kanrich Finance 

Group ‘B’: Dialog Axiata (2016 runners-up), John Keells Group, Mobitel and CDB ‘A’.

Bowl and Shield Championship (25 teams in four groups). 

Group ‘C’: Nations Trust Bank, Classic Travel, Mercantile Investments, Janashakthi Insurance, Clovetel, NOR Lanka and Virtusa. 

Group ‘D’: HSBC, Hela Clothing, Commercial Bank, Sri Lanka Insurance, AMW ‘B’ and HDPL.

Group ‘E’: Ceylon Tobacco Co., Amana Bank, Prosperous Capital, CDB ‘B’, Kandurata Umbrella and Commercial Credit. 

Group ‘F’: Fair First Insurance, Sampath Bank, Brandix Intimate Apperals, MAS Attune, Ceylon Knit Trend and NDB Bank. 

The three traditional special awards offered once again are the Mohan Daniel Memorial Challenge Trophy for the Most Outstanding Player, Pemraj Peiris Challenge Trophy for the player of the Cup Final and Capt. Mathew George Memorial Challenge Trophy for the Most Promising Player. The most outstanding player will also receive a brand new Yamaha 125 CC motorcycle donated by AMW. 

The Sajith Mallikarachchi Memorial Fair Play Trophy is also offered for the second time by Sampath Bank.  

After the Sri Lanka Super Sevens, held during the past two weekends, now comes the climax, the magnificent mercantile sevens offering rugby fans three days of pure Sri Lankan red hot action, together with live bands and a DJ and plenty of hawker style food stalls, thus transforming the Race Course grounds into a carnival setting.