As a rugby fan from New Zealand, I was in love with the Hong Kong Sevens long before I finally made it to the iconic event.

It was a bit like as an over-excited 20 year old when I ran out into the middle of the Champs Elysee to get a glimpse of the Arc deTriumph on my first visit to Paris. I had studied the French Revolution in school and at university and had a thing for the impressionists at the time.

The expectation got the better of me.

The French like to utilize several means of expression while driving. The horn is obvious and the flashing lights are also straight forward but one fist shaking out the window left me wondering how he was steering the car.

It was 10 years later that a French colleague enlightened to me how traffic lights operate in Europe. He explained that

• In London, they are compulsory;
• In Paris, they are optional;
• In Rome, they are purely decoration

Hong Kong alleyway

Anyway … there is a hometown bias in the perception that people know what the Hong Kong Sevens is like because they have experienced international sevens in their own country.

Pride in your own event is great and Wellington is a lot of fun. The crowd really get into it, the venue is well appointed and it is good for a rugby-mad country like New Zealand to have it’s own event but Hong Kong is Sevens Rugby – always was – always will be.

[All due respect to Melrose and the origins of the game]

And even though I haven’t been yet, my gut feeling is that Dubai is the second Sevens Venue.

First memories of the HK 7s

I remember watching the Ella Brothers, David Campese and Brendan Moon on TV playing for Australia against Fiji on a wet finals day in the 1982 event.

My father thought Mark Ella was by far the most gifted player in the world. I remember a Bledisloe Cup test around that time when dad feared that All Black debutant Richard Dunne would get a lesson from Mark Ella.

We had seen Campese for the first time during Australia’s 1982 tour of New Zealand. He pulled the goose-step against Northland as a cocky, fast 19 year old. Then he gave All Black Stu Wilson the run-around in the tests. NZ rugby fans have loved to hate him ever since.

It was great to see him helping the Tongan team at the 2010 HK Sevens.

I remember Scott Pierce, Peter Woods and Eric Rush playing for New Zealand through the 80s and Waisale Serevi was always there for Fiji.

Before he made such a big impact at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Jonah Lomu had starred in 2 Hong Kong Sevens – winning the ‘Best and Fairest’ award in ’95.

I remember watching Lomu make a big American Football-type pass the width of the field during one game. It was a re-start play where Lomu was on one side of the field and the bulk of his teammates were on the other – a great swing play if you have an athletic 6ft 5in winger on your team.

In the 96 event, Christian Cullen mesmerized the Fijian defense in his own in-goal area before putting Masarewa away for the try under the posts at the other end.

[Christian Cullen's break is here:

Obviously Waisale Serevi features heavily.

2010 Hong Kong Sevens

I had been to the Wellington and Las Vegas events and after reading the aforementioned book from cover to cover, observing the New Zealand team in training and discussing the Hong Kong 7s with all and sundry, I felt my homework was complete.

My trip was comfortable but I was a little pre-occupied with having to get to the stadium to collect my press pass by the time they closed at 5pm.

My flight arrived at 2.30pm so with the 25 min train ride to Central, I figured I’d be OK.

I moved somewhat mechanically through train and underground stations and up the busy streets to the Stadium. I caught a glimpse but was just relieved to have my credentials and press pack.

My first glimpse of Hong Kong Stadium

I had my camera at the ready as I walked the busy streets and got a couple of good shots with my iPhone and a panorama application.

I saw the England team training on the pitch next to the stadium and so bowled up to get a few shots. I rate the current England squad and believe they could win their home event in May.

England training on the Thursday before the 2010 Hong Kong 7s

The world champion Australian women’s team were training on the next playing fields en route to my hotel.

World Champions Australia training before their Hong Kong 7s final against China

They played their final against China on Day One of the main event and beat them comfortably.

My hotel wasn’t far away and the Googlemaps walking estimate was bang on – which I was thankful for because it has been a while since I had had a shave, shower and sleep that lasted longer than 30mins.

Check-in was efficient so I was looking out my 16th floor window within minutes, wondering whether to bother going out.

View from my room - keeping it real in Hong Kong

L'Hotel Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

There is a line of thinking around jet lag and getting used to a new time-zone that says if you arrive in a new country around the middle of the day, you should say up as long as possible into the evening before crashing out so that you have a chance of waking at a ‘normal’ morning hour the next day.

It works well if you are sufficiently refreshed by a shower and actually want to go out.

Sevens rugby is the kind of sport that brings people together and provides an atmosphere where all nationalities meet, enjoy the festivities, share rugby stories and drink beer.

So I was off to catch up with the English guys I had met at the bar in the LAX terminal en route to the Las Vegas 7s.

We met at Delaney’s on Jaffe street and went down to Sticky Fingers where a great local band were playing covers from the 80s.

I doubted whether Vegemite sandwiches were as big in Hong Kong as they were in New Zealand but they did a good job of the now disputed classic ‘Land Down Under’.

The female lead went on to do a couple of Alannah Miles numbers and a great time was had all around.

The cliche ‘no strangers, only friends I have not yet met’ seems to apply particularly well to sevens rugby and Hong Kong in particular.

• I spent several hours discussing New Zealand’s chances at the 2011 world cup and how prepared the country is for the event with a group of South Africans who will be making the trip
• I made my argument for the global expansion of Sevens over 15s for rugby with a rugby passionate American
  • He made some good points for the negative, the best one being that the American audience would want to enjoy a full 80 minute match rather than shorter bursts of energy. That it was too short a duration to really get behind your team
    [I'll post on the solution to that one when I work out a solution]
• I discussed all kinds of social and rugby matters with a couple of Zimbabwean brothers who were in great humour
• There were some Frenchmen in town on business who did not even know the Sevens were on but seemed to have a sense of humour when a female English fan draped the Union Jack over one of them

I consumed a fair bit of Kentucky Fried and other types of chicken while at the stadium. It was very conveniently located out the back of the press area in the West stand.

View from the press section at Hong Kong Stadium (using the 'Panorama' app on an iPhone)

So I was keen for something different for dinner on the last day. There was a Pizza Hut on the way to my hotel and a large vegetarian was perfect. There was a nice local woman in the small shop who commented on my New Zealand jersey and asked how things went this year.

She seemed very nice but I thought she may have been winding me up. After explaining that Samoa had deserved their victory this year, she pressed me about last year’s result. She was definitely taking the piss. She didn’t mention 2008.

The Pizza was perfect and I enjoyed the English news channels while downloading and re-sizing photos and composing articles. Then it was packing so I could enjoy a sleep in the following morning.

Hard to believe it was all over. Hard to believe New Zealand had come close but lost again. Impossible to believe I would not be returning next year.

Sometimes it takes a little time for events and memories to mull into prose. Some of the time is required to dull the taste of defeat. The memory of New Zealand walking off in the shadows as Samoa basked in the bright lights of victory will stick with me.

The Samoan team bask in the glory of the fanfare of Hong Kong 7s glory

Knowing a little of Gordon Teitjens, it will stick with him also and New Zealand will come back stronger next year … and so will I as I work to get Sevens fans to recognise the name ‘Ririnui’ alongside the likes of Starmers-Smith.

Hong Kong Stadium has 2 large grandstands that oppose each other down the length of the field.

View from the north entrance

There is a smaller stand to the South end that is notorious housing revelers during the 3 day event and even smaller on on the north side.

The capacity is 40,000.

The ground is purpose-built for rugby and so does not have to accommodate other sports like cricket which tend to take the action a little further from the crowd like in Adelaide.

• Grandstands are very close to the ground which creates atmosphere and feeling among visitors that a big spectacle is unfolding
• Sells big jugs of beer
• 3 large screens (2 at the Southern End and 1 at the north)
  Great for replays, team lists, scoring, entertainment

A streaker made it to safety after running half the field and then jumping the fence into the crowd when he was confronted by security personnel.

Streaking in Hong Kong

The crowd were right behind him.

Prince Harry was there …

And some interesting people in the crowd …

South Africans enjoying themselves

I flew Royal Brunei and had heard mixed reviews. There wasn’t a lot of room between the seats but that’s typical for me at 6ft 3in. When the woman in front of me put her seat back, she was practically lying on my lap.

Not always a problem but it sux when you want to get some sleep having checked in at 3am for the 5am departure.

The flight was fine and the service was very courteous and more than adequate.

I had been warned by a friend who said the landing could be a little abrupt. He said that that was just how the model of aircraft operated by Royal Brunei worked so I was glad for the pre-warning when the wheels hit the ground with a loud bang.

On the descent, we could see a lot of greenery out the windows.

Brunei is not a place that we learn a lot about at school in New Zealand. Obviously there is the Sultan and some impressive jungle that features in National Geographic but I realised I knew nothing about the place.

I think one of my relations who had been in NZ’s armed forces had spent some time here during hostilities in the late 70′s-early 80′s. I’ll look up the details.

I heard from Nige and the lads who I met en route to Las Vegas so hopefully we’ll hook up for a beer tonight after I get my press pass and have checked into the hotel.

I’m excited to be heading to Hong Kong. It’s been on my bucket list for a while and there’s something very special about the aura of the 7s there.

I’ve been to the Wellington Sevens 4 times now but I’m expecting something entirely different in Hong Kong. I can’t wait!

I walked around the corner to the Hard Rock to catch the free shuttle bus to the stadium that was due to leave at 9.30am.

South Africa fans en route to the USA Sevens

We were a little late leaving and so there was time to grab a sandwich from inside at the convenience store. I abstained from the big American breakfast this morning.

I got on the bus to see the playing jerseys of South Africa, New Zealand and England.

From the conversation being held between two brothers and their father in the front seats of the bus, American rugby fans knew their stuff.

Day two was all finals and a loss meant the end of the championship run for that team.

The highlights were

• Kenya beating England to make the Championship semi-finals
• The USA winning the Plate for the second time in 2 weeks (and beating Argentina in the semi-final)
• Samoa winning the cup, crushing New Zealand 33-12 in the final

There were gallant efforts

• Australia narrowly lost to Samoa in the semi-final by 2 points
• Japan made it to the Shield Final

I met an interesting guy in the press box. He had lived in Kenya for 6 years and was covering the tournament for Kenyan press and Rugby Union. He had had an interview with Collins Injera that morning and was buzzing.

We moved up and down between the press box and the field to take photos and then, there were some tense moments when New Zealand played Kenya in the semi-final. Kenya had done so well against England and were more than capable of upsetting New Zealand. They have beaten them before.

New Zealand prevailed but only just. Zar Lawrence broke Kenyan hearts with his forward roll try.

Zar Lawrence scores the winning try against Kenya in the semi-final

New Zealand would lose the final to Samoa, providing 2 intercept passes (that resulted in tries) in the process.

The Samoan crowd were right into it

The presentation included some elaborately dressed flamingo girls

That night there was a wrap-up party at the Hard Rock Pool area.

It was well-attended and many of the players came out which was nice for the supporters.

I spoke to several of the Australian players about

a) Their experience in Las Vegas;

b) Whether they found the narrow playing field any different; and

c) The reception they receive by the local crowd at the New Zealand 7s tournament in Wellington.

They were enjoying things in Las Vegas and were not concerned at all about the narrow field. Australia were one of the teams who did well at Sam Boyd Stadium. They were the only team to threaten the winners, Samoa whom they lost to by just 2 points in the semi-final.

The Press Box

Level 6 at Sam Boyd Stadium

The press box is very well resources and laid out. The view is perfect and (compared to New Zealand standards) the wi-fi broadband is lightning quick. This meant I was able to publish short videos immediately and post photos to Flikr.

I was also able to use Twitter directly instead of using the SMS service that I needed in Wellington to post match updates. I used SMS out on the field.

Maru Ririnui in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas

The good people from UNLV – Mark lent me his Mac power cord which really saved me on Day 2 when I left mine at the hotel. I was pondering the return trip back in a cab and the cost of a new one from a local Apple dealer when I approached Mark as asked if he had a spare. He didn’t but was happy to lend his to me for the 3 hrs needed to charge my battery. Cheers Mark!

One of the TV commentators looked very familiar. It turned out to be Johnny (forget his last name) from Australia whom I had played with for a brief period at Blackheath in England in 1998-99. He had lost most of his long hair but it was him. We caught up briefly a the wrap up party on the evening of the second day.

I also met a couple of great guys from San Francisco who were taking photos and covering the matches for UC Berkely Sports Dept.

Justin got this great shot of what could have been an historic try – one of our Top 5 Highlights from Day One.

heartbreak for American Sevens fans as their second try against Fiji was disallowed

I spoke with many of the volunteers who were helping run the tournament. Rugby in the United States is in great hands. These people are committed, friendly, smart and hard-working.

Then there was this father and son duo from Colorado – good people.

Volunteers at the USA Sevens in Las Vegas

I also met some nice people involved with the Hawaii State Rugby Union. They were looking for journalists to cover their 2nd Annual Hawaii World Rugby Club Tournament that is happening July 12-17 this year.

It is put on by the Kemoeatu brothers who play for the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. These guys give a little something back to Hawaii by putting up the $50,000 plus in prize money.

I said to ‘pencil me in’ and I would take the wife because

a) We didn’t take our planned trip to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary that we had wanted to do (we were there for our honeymoon 11 years ago); and

b) Covering a tournament on your own is hard work so I could do with the help; and

c) My wife is a way better photographer than me

(I’ll leave the last 2 points out when I explain it to her initially)

There is a feeling of relief when check-in and customs formalities have been completed. It gave me an opportunity to relax after a torrid time making arrangements for the trip and driving to Auckland.

Wanting to present the best possible visage to US Customs officials upon arrival (and not having much to work with) I had a shave.

I was surprised that the single-serve shave gel from the vending machine at the departure gate went far enough for me to get the head done as well (the one time when thinning on top works for you).

There was a slight delay due to added security before boarding at Auckland airport so I started watching Invictus – the Clint Eastwood directed South African 1995 World Cup rugby movie.

Morgan Freeman seemed very capable in the role of Nelson Mandela but for rugby fans, Matt Damon struggled to be convincing as the great South African captain, Francois Pienaar – he just didn’t seem to have the presence. And the fat bloke who was given the number Springbok 7 jersey did nothing for the memory of the athleticism of the late Ruben Kruger.

Explaining rugby to a non-rugby audience is tough. This is where I believe Sevens has it over the 15-a-side code – you can explain it, simple as that. People unfamiliar with the game can watch it and ‘get it’.

Marketing people talk about an ‘Elevator Pitch’ – a 10 second opportunity to explain and sell your business concept. You have to break down the entire essence of your idea into a 10 second, plain language spiel.

There’s no way to explain 15s rugby in that time. There are way too many ‘but what about that?’ moments when it comes to scrums, line-outs, tackles and rucks (the parts of the game that distinguish it from other footballing codes).

Renown New Zealand reggae band, 3 Houses Down were on the plane, heading to Las Vegas to perform as part of the sevens festivities.

English Sevens fan Nige at the bar at LAX Terminal 7

The flight was long but comfortable. The nice lady at  the Air New Zealand check-in desk arranged an Exit Row seat and advised that due to the weight of my bags, I didn’t have to check the second one in. It would make for a quicker transfer at the other end so I could get to the organiser’s office at the the Hard Rock Hotel to pick up my press credentials for the tournament before the desk closed at 9pm (my flight was due to arrive at 8pm).

I had 4 hours in LA so headed for the bar. I met some nice Americans and then ran into some knowledgeable English fans and so had a couple of pints and talked rugby. The atmosphere was growing.

Bar at Terminal 7 of LAX

I made it to the Hard Rock on time and recognised several players milling around in the foyers.

It was time to get to my own hotel now as it had been 18 or so hours since I left Auckland and I was tired and hungry (not my best 2 colours).