Turning out a highly impressive display and saving their best when it truly mattered, BARA (British Asian Rugby Association) were the worthy winners of the men’s section in the Bombay Gymkhana International Rugby 10s Tournament.
BARA looked imperious with their attacking play and were superior in all aspects of the game, outclassing the home side Bombay Gymkhana 57-12 in the final played under lights at the Bombay Gymkhana ground here on Saturday.
Not having played their best until the finals, the UK-based team rose to the occasion with their high quality of play – they started off brightly and gave signs of their attacking intentions right from the outset – running five unanswered tries in the first half.
Even in the second half, they continued in the same vein of form and apart from a brief period never allowed the home side to mount even a modicum of challenge – reflected in the lopsided score line.
Future Hope won the women's title at the Bombay Gymkhana International Rugby 10s. |
Coming to the women’s section, it was the inform side Future Hope of Kolkata who were the deserving winners to gain the top honors. They registered a resounding 17-5 win against Bombay Gymkhana in the final played earlier in the day.
Future Hope were in dominant form throughout the tournament – winning all their round-robin stage matches in comfortable manner while the Bombay Gymkhana women’s team who did well to reach the summit round, were much better in the second half.
How the Semis unfolded?
In contrast to the way the final eventually folded, the semis turned out to be extremely tight affairs. The hosts had to dig deep to eke out a narrow 10-7 victory against Kolkata-based Future Hope in what turned to be an ill-tempered second semis.
Far from been fluent, Bombay Gymkhana were given a tough time by their tricky opponents but managed to score the decisive try in the closing stages down the left channel, snatching the winner and securing their place in the title clash.
Things were not much different in the first semi-final, where BARA (British Asian Rugby Association) staved off a spirited second half comeback from Delhi Hurricanes to come through eventually by an identical score line for a place in the finals.
Meanwhile, in the women’s section, inform side Future Hope rounded off their group stage engagements with an all-win record, clinching victory in their final match this morning to deservingly gain the top spot on their way to the summit clash.
The Bombay Gymkhana women’s team also impressed, chalking out three wins in the group stage. It was fitting that the two best teams in the women’s competition had made to the title clash based on the points accumulated at end of round-robin stage.
