Ruchiru triple see Virtusa through
Ruchiru Samarasinghe from Virtusa shredded a flimsy defensive effort from Alliance Finance to storm over the line thrice and lift his side to an emphatic 22 (1 goal, three tries)- 5 (1 try) win in their Shield clash at the Dialog Mercantile Rugby Sevens, played at Longdon Place yesterday.
The victory placed Virtusa alongside several other teams who triumphed on the opening day of the two-day tournament. Virtusa 
struck twice in the opening seven minutes in a ferocious burst of offense tainted with torrents of pace. Samarasinghe was deadly down the wings and he, along with his teammates, exploited openings in the defense at will.
His first try saw him spectacularly thunder past a series of limp tackles before gliding over the line for the game’s maiden points. And a few moments later Virtusa fly half Pramod Sendanayake added seven more to the score, as he shrugged off a couple of backpedalling Alliance players to dart over the line for a try which he converted.
The score remained at 12-0 heading into the half, but upon resumption, Virtusa were at it again, launching freely into Alliance’s half. They scored only a few minutes after the break with another rapid strike from the marauding Samarasinghe,
With only a few minutes remaining, Alliance salvaged a consolatory try through scrum half M. Abeykoon, but even that was cancelled out by a quick response from Alliance’s chief tormentor Samarasinghe, who tore across the field for a final fiercely-fast try.
In some of the day’s other matches MAS ‘A’ torched Sampath Bank 35-0 in a Cup encounter while Commercial Leasing pulverized Union Bank 38-0 and Dialog ‘B’ overcame HSBC with a superlative 24-0 win, in two bowl matches.
In other Shield games Brandix beat Janashakthi (17-5), Softlogic marched past Sri Lankan Insurance 28-0 and Amana Takaful thrashed Hayleys 33-0. Action will recommence today from 9.00 a.m. at Longdon Place.
| Alliance Finance tried desperately to stop Virtusa’s charge with little effect. Pic by Sausantha Liyanawatte |
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