The opening day of the Bombay Gymkhana International Rugby 10s Tournament, played under quite overcast conditions & intermittent rain at the Bombay Gymkhana ground here on Friday witnessed largely lopsided matches as the men’s semi-final line-up was confirmed.
Home favourites Bombay Gymkhana and Kolkata-based Future Hope deservingly booked their place in the semi-finals with impressive performances in their group stage matches played during the afternoon and evening session.
Playing with pace and precision in this fast-paced format of the game, Bombay Gymkhana on the back of their title-winning exploits earlier this month, looked in pretty good form as they topped their group, winning both their matches without conceding a point.
En-route to making their way in the last four stage, Bombay Gymkhana negotiated little problems as they launched their campaign with a hugely comfortable 34-0 victory against Bangalore RFC before getting the better of UK-based team Wooden Spoons (24-0) under lights to wind off the day’s proceedings.
Future Hope, meanwhile too had an easy passage into the next stage of the competition while they were hardly tested in both their matches where they recorded fairly convincing wins from what proved to be a relative easy pool.
Joining them in the semis are the impressive UK-based team –BARA (British Asian Rugby Association), who fared well in both their encounters, which they came through with relative ease and ended as the top ranked team.
They will meet Hurricanes in the first semi-final tomorrow while the other semis will feature Bombay Gymkhana and Future Hope.
In the women’s category, featuring five teams, it was Future Hope by some distance emerged as one of the standout contenders for the title. They have almost booked their place in the final with all all-win record on day one, combining strong attacking play with solid team work to chart out three convincing wins.
The remaining group stage matches in the women’s segment will be completed on Saturday, when it would be determined which other team advance to the title clash while the third-place play-off is scheduled earlier in the evening.
