Blue is the colour

With rugby 7s recent inclusion in the Olympic Games, rugby’s popularity is increasing. Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) played its part in promoting rugby among Pakistani universities by hosting the “Universevens”, a universities rugby tournament on the 14^th and 15^th of November.

Cup champions, LUMS Blues

This was the biggest university rugby event yet, with all the top rugby universities competing. For the past few years, LUMS has been very active in rugby. Along with holding a national level 15s tournament, the “LUMS Super Six”, LUMS is now actively promoting rugby in other Pakistani universities.

The aim of this tournament was to get together national universities that have excelled in sporting activities and develop its players’ rugby skills. The tournament was played in the sevens format, a variant of rugby union played on the same field with only seven players per side, and with each match lasting 14 minutes.

Bowl champions, Garrison Degree College

This year 12 teams participated in the Universevens, namely, Bahria University, Fort Abbas Degree College, Garrison Degree College, Government College University, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Islamic University Bahawalpur, LUMS, FAST Islamabad, Professional Academy College, University College Lahore, University of Management and Technology, and the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.

Cup runners-up, Islamic University of Bahawalpur

On Saturday afternoon the teams played the qualifying rounds in four pools of three teams. Home sides LUMS Blues and LUMS Greens had little difficulty in topping their pool A and pool D respectively, with the Blues not conceding a single point. Islamic University Bahawalpur similarly had little troubling in finishing atop of pool B. It was a much tighter affair in pool C where there was very little to choose between the three sides; FAST Islamabad eventually emerging as winners with two hard fought, narrow victories.

On Sunday afternoon in the knock-out stages, the bowl competition was won by Garrison Degree College with a 15-0 triumph over Balochistan University, after both finalists had won their respective semi-finals 28-0.

3rd placed FAST Islamabad

University of Management and Technology took the honours in the plate competition defeating Fort Abbas Government Degree College 20-7.

In the cup competition Islamic University Bahawalpur trounced LUMS Green in the semi-final, but try as they might they could not repeat this feat when faced with LUMS Blues in the final; the home side edging the game 7-5. LUMS Green made a real fight of the 3^rd/4^th play-off, but FAST Islamabad managed the only score of the game and scraped home 5-0.

4th placed LUMS Green

One only has to look at the number of new teams who competed at this tournament to observe how the sport is taking off in Pakistan. The national under 20 team are presently competing at the Asian Under 20 Division 2 competition in Manila, Philippines and later this month several LUMS rugby players will be traveling to Sri Lanka, as members of the Pakistan national sevens squad, to play in the IRB sanctioned Asian Rugby 7’s series.

Text with assistance from: Miguel Loureiro

Images courtesy: Miguel Loureiro