Hutch team beat Kingfisher team in celebrity rugby game

Mumbai, Jun 22 (UNI) After being down two tries, the Hutch Team fought back to beat Kingfisher 25-20 in the celebrity game that kicked off the Rugby season on the eve of the India-Guam game at the Bombay Gymkhana today.

The Hutch Team comprising stars like Dhanraj Pillai, Cyrus Broacha, Rahul Bose, Suresh Kalmadi and Kiran More stepped onto the field to show their support for the game by taking on Kingfisher Team comprising Viren Rasquinha, Kelly Dorji, Akashdeep Saigal, Aditya Hitkari, Pullela Gopichand and Fazle Naqvi.

It was largely the sporting community within the teams that did all the scoring. Former India Captain and Olympian, Viren Rasquinha, kicked off the scoring by scoring the first try for Kingfisher.

Bikram Saluja put Hutch level going into the game.

While Dhanraj Pillai and Viren Rasquinha were enjoying some friendly rivalry, Homi Adajania and Kelly Dorji were having a go at each other and enjoying what was turning out to be a fun game of rugby. A few misplaced passes saw Fazle Naqvi, ED LMG Brands head past the line to put Kingfisher ahead. Dhanraj Pillai brought the score to 10-10 by scoring for Hutch. Viren Rasquinha seemed to have the pace and the skill to sidestep most of the Hutch team not once but twice and put Kingfisher two tries ahead at 20-10. Hutch fought back strongly with Bikram Saluja and Dhanraj Pillai scoring their second tries.

With the match tied at full time, Referee Anil Singh, MD Procam International signalled a sudden death with the team scoring winning the game. It was only fitting that one of Bombay Gymkhana's own, Raiyan Banajee sprinted away from his opponents to give Hutch a 25-20 win.

Results: Hutch 25 (Dhanraj Pillai 2 Tries, Bikram Saluja 2 Tries, Raiyan Banajee 1 Try) bt Kingfisher 20 (Viren Rasquinha 3 Tries, Fazle Naqvi 1 Try).

UNI