Isipathana routed Ananda by 48 points (four goals and four tries) to nil in the Cup final of the Singer All Island Inter-Schools Sevens rugby tournament played at St Peter’s College ground in Bambalapitiya yesterday.

This was the second inter-school Sevens that Isipathana clinched within seven days having taken the Western Province title last Sunday.

The tournament organized by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association came in for much criticism as most of the prominent schools abstained form participating.

Some of the schools when contacted said that they were concentrating on the forthcoming league season which is due to start in another three weeks time.

Nevertheless the Isipathanians were favourites to lift the title but had the other top teams participated, the tournament would have dished out better quality rugby. The biggest shock was the defeat of Kingswood by Mahanama in a Cup quarter final encounter.

Meanwhile Nalanda took the Plate title when they defeated last week’s Western Province Cup finalist St Joseph’s while Piliyandala Central overcame Embilipitiya Central to take the Bowl title.

Zahira College Maradana had to pull out after qualifying to the semi finals of the Plate category and concede a walk over to Nalanda due to the tragic death of their master in charge Chandana Ratnayake who was a victim of the Weliveriya bomb blast yesterday that killed Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle at a marathon race.

Results:

Semi Finals – Bowl – Embilipitiya Central beat President’s College Rajagiriya 22-0 and Piliyandala Central beat Royal Panadura 26-19.

Plate – St Joseph’s beat Science 19-0 and Nalanda w/o from Zahira.

Cup – Isipathana beat DSS 42-05 and Ananda beat Mahanama 12-05.

Finals – Bowl – Piliyandala Central beat Embilipitiya Central 21-7. Plate – Nalanda beat St Joseph’s 22-0. Cup – Isipathana beat Ananda 48-0.

Read the article: Daily Mirror

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