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I was early at the grounds to imbibe the pith and core of the event.

A carnival atmosphere prevailed and there was the splendour on the grass with fast, furious rugby in this first-ever International Rugby Sevens to be staged by any school in South East Asia.

To the credit of Isipatana the tournament was handled with aplomb and much of the planning must be attributed to Dilroy Fernando who has had the exposure over several years of attending international tournaments. Nothing was askew. Every item was attended to with clock-work precision.

Eight tents with mobile toilet facilities for the sixteen teams that had been grandly accommodated in five-star comfort at the Grand Oriental Hotel and the Ceylon Continental Hotel were the obvious features. The brightly decorated grounds with banners, buntings and streamers lending fancy to the occasion and here in the pavilion, exclusively reserved for the invitees, four gigantic lanterns and five of a slightly lesser dimension with even the pillars all in Isipatana green, lit up to spray light like moonbeams, added to the aura and lustre.

To match international standards, apart from the two touch judges two other in-goal judges stood duty behind the goal posts. Ball pickers, stewards, TVs every ten yards for those in the pavilion, spot-on commentators, DJ music, the whole gamut was minutely thought of and attended to. Over 4 million rupees was spent on this festival of rugby which was spread over two full days, was covered to a high degree by the sponsors. The Minister Sports, Johnston Fernando, was so taken up with the grandeur of the tournament that he offered Rs. 50,000 towards the cause and pledged Rs. 2 million for next year's event.

Sixteen teams participated in the tournament, eight from Sri Lanka and eight from overseas covering Thailand, Qatar, Dubai, UK, Russia and Australia. The local referees were Nizam Jamaldeen, Aruna Jayasekera and Anil Jayasinghe with foreign help from Thailand, UK, New Zealand and Switzerland. Sharp on the scheduled hour of 11 a.m. the tournament was kicked off with Wesley who eventually won against a resolute Southern Province outfit. The Russian boys were immense in size which prompted Gama to remark that even our 24 year old school boys have not been of the same stature. They were fast movers and indulged in heroics and ran out eventual winners of the tournament.

For the first time in this country we witnessed a lady referee when petite Rachel of Switzerland took the whistle and she was as adept as any of her male counterparts, keeping pace with the ball and interpreting the laws in rigorous measure. Of course, she has had experience in officiating at IRB Women's World Cup fixtures.

Also keeping a glad eye on the proceedings were two international rugby heavyweights: Jamie Scott, the Hony. Secretary General of the Asian Rugby Union and is also the IRB representative in Asia, the other being Dilip Kumar, Vice-President of the Australian Rugby Union who even though he is a Trinitian, donated rugby equipment to Isipatana.

On Sunday the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finals were worked off in waves of pomp and majesty before a mammoth audience. For the first time in the country the Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield were on offer to give all sixteen participants to play in the semi-finals. As for me it was like dining off white damask and egg shell porcelain. The song and the story are now done and we look forward eagerly to next years panorama of rugby entertainment.

Bravo, Isipatana, you have a burnished reputation, having strengthened the country's rugby by churning out 41 national players in your fifty years and now you have unleashed the dramatic possibilities by notching a historic phenomenon in staging the spectacle of the first-ever sevens tournament in South East Asia.

(S.de.A)

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