Action from the final match between Wesley College and St Sylvester’s College played at Doha Rugby Football Centre on Friday.
Wesley College emerged as Lions Sri Lanka Schools Touch Sevens champions for the fifth consecutive year when they defeated St Sylvester’s College in the final played at Doha Rugby Football Centre on Friday.
For Wesleyites, Lahiru Prasad scored tries in each half while Sajith Ariyawansha scored one. For the boys from Kandy, Sashi Kanth crossed over for their only touchdown.
Wesley College captain Shivan Pathirage, after having won the fifth Lions Touch tournament crown for the fifth year, said: “With half our players out to other commitments our training was mainly focused on winning our group division”.
“After that we were aiming at taking it match by match. The fact that we could win five titles was not part of our strategy. We played as if were our first title as we had a lot of pressure coming into the tournament,” Pathirage said.
“I am very thankful for the boys who gave a solid performance all day. Everybody did their job,” he said.
Pathirage said that playing in the most prestigious touch event in Qatar and for the first time at the Doha Rugby Club was something special.
“Full credit to Qatar Touch who with the Lions Committee was able to deliver a Touch festival atmosphere we haven’t experienced before”.
Sylvestrians’ try scorer Kanth said: “The Lions Touch is a big prize for us and we wait all year for the event in hope to win the cup. It painstaking to make the final and lose to silly mistakes”
“We applied the basics much better than Wesley but we just couldn’t match their speed. However, the chance to play the final at DRFC with a huge crowd was something to remember. We are still absorbing the atmosphere” Kanth said.
Following the ceremonial presentation Lions RFC and Committee President Nimo Amit said: “We thank God for a blessed day. Everything went according to plan and it was a great day for the sport of touch rugby”.
“The competition was fierce with the standard of Touch elevated to heights we haven’t seen before”. Amit was full of praise for the event partners saying: “I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our partners and sponsors in particular Qatar Touch, Sports Corner, Oil Exec, Vodafone, SriLakan Airlines, DRFC, Sampath Bank, and Well-On Restaurant”. For his part Qatar Touch official Samuel Rico told the media: “Qatar touch has been producing and presenting Touch events since 2010 however, today Touch reached a new dimension”.
“The 16 participating teams demonstrated game awareness with extreme capability and skill. This is in line with Qatar Touch’s development strategy presented to the Federation of International Touch”. Rico continued: “Going on the number of participants, standard of Touch and supporter satisfaction, the marathon tournament was the most successful to date”.
The marathon Touch festivities were played over 10 hours, with 16 teams, across 41 matches and a strong crowd in attendance.
