The first leg of Inter-District Rugby Maharashtra State Championship hosted at Bombay Gymkhana earlier in the day came to an enthralling end with the suburban girls taming the opposition right since the first try in the finals.
Out of a total of nine teams divided into three pools of three each, Raigad was leading well ahead of the rest followed by Suburbs after the group matches.
This hence placed the higher ranked teams against the lower ranked from the other pools in the league, where Raigad, Nashik, Kolhapur and Mumbai suburbs made it into the semis.
The semi-final played between Raigad and Nashik proved to be a complete thriller as the tournament’s best bet Raigad struggled to match up to Nashik’s pace, eventually losing out to them by a margin of just one try. One try gains you five points. That’s what a fast-paced sport does to you, it can flip a side upside down even in the dying minutes of the game.
Second semi-final which was played between Kolhapur and Mumbai Suburbs was nothing different than the first as the winning margin remained the same. The only contrast being, the latter storming into the finals with utmost ease, with Gargee Walekar being the sole try scorer in this match.
Nashik who surprised everyone in this year’s edition with an amazing display of speed and pace gave in to the suburban girls’ early try in the game. Putting pressure on the rival team with just a few minutes into the game proved triumphant to Mumbai girls.
With the board touching a score of 20-0, Mumbai girls had done it this time on their home ground.
Ruchi Shetty, fly-half of Mumbai Suburbs blowing her last few gusts for the day said, “It became increasingly difficult to get your legs moving, all thanks to the early morning showers which made the ground muddy. We, however, were confident of giving a tough fight to other teams as our unit was well-coordinated and had an understanding of each player’s strengths and weaknesses. Overall, it was a lot of fun but extremely tiring at the same time.”
Out of these, a selected few would go ahead to attend the camp which will be held at Bombay Gymkhana from July 25.
Tomorrow, July 24 will spectate the statesmen in action on the same ground battling for the coveted title.