Bula rugby 7s fans!

Wasn’t it great to see the sunny smiles on the faces of our Fijian players again after they snatched the 2009 Hong Kong Rugby 7s title from South Africa last Sunday evening?

The victory at the hallowed rugby 7s turf of Happy Valley was so sweet, being ten years in the making at a place which holds special meaning to every Fiji rugby 7s fan of my generation i.e. pre-IRB World Rugby 7s Series when Hong Kong alone was the Mecca of international rugby 7s.

The boys certainly played their hearts out to win for each other and besieged national coach Iliesa Tanivula, following all the recent turmoil back home surrounding the sacking of Waisale Serevi as coach and our spectacular capitulation at the IRB Rugby 7s World Cup in Dubai earlier this month.

What occurred to me watching Fiji win through the play-offs on Sunday against England, Kenya and South Africa in the Cup quarters, semis and finals respectively was that this was an entirely locally-based Fiji team, without our overseas-based stars and had this same team been selected for Dubai immediately after the 2009 Marist Club 7s (Fiji’s premier club rugby 7s tournament) two weeks earlier, we would probably still be world rugby 7s champions today.

But the debacle in Dubai is history now and I’ll take this win in Hong Kong any day and cherish it for what it is – a superb win!

One thing for sure since Fiji last won in Hong Kong way back in 1999; the world rugby 7s-scape has changed beyond recognition. Gone are the days when rugby 7s big guns like New Zealand, Fiji and England simply cruised through pool play and the quarter finals of the Hong Kong 7s, barely slipping into 3rd gear, until we had to do real battle in the semis and finals with all pistons firing.

The rugby 7s minnows of the world, epitomised so vividly by Kenya, but also including Portugal, USA, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei have all made great strides to catch up, to the extent now that all teams – from rugby 7s countries big or small, really do earn their quarterfinal spot and can be guaranteed of three very tough and close encounters to make it through to any of the finals – be it Bowl, Plate or Cup.

Fiji’s victory in Hong Kong this year was based on a swarming defence and good organisation around the ruck area. This was especially so against England in the quarterfinal where the lurking presence of speed merchant, Tom Varndell, was successfully negated and when Fiji was down to six players twice in the final against South Africa. Little wonder that South African Coach, Paul Treu, was seen live on television blasting his players after the final whistle – they should have done better given that Fiji played a player short for 20% of the game.

Seremaia Burotu was outstanding for his non-stop contribution on attack and in defence and Emosi Vucago, awarded the Player of the Tournament, provided the spark and leadership with his brilliant performance with the ball in hand. The little halfback has finally come of age.

Kenya, once again the stars of the tournament were simply too hot to handle for the Kiwis in their quarterfinal, showing them up for a lack of pace across the team. Until coach Gordon Tietjens fixes this weakness I fear more or less the same outcome for the men in black in the remaining three IRB rugby 7s tournaments – early Cup exits on Sunday.

Fiji, on the other hand, wasn’t about to make the same mistake as they did in Dubai and played the Kenyans to perfection with straight hard running, execution at pace, bite in their tackles and controlled aggression at the tackle ball situation.

As the first text message to me after our semi-final win over Kenya summed up, “Now that’s more like the Fiji rugby 7s of old”.

This 2009 win in Hong Kong is timely for Fiji, a nation that lives and dies by the fortune of its national rugby 7s team like no other country on planet earth. The victory will boost national morale and go a long way to mending the Fiji public’s relationship with the embattled Fiji Rugby Union (FRU). The US$100,000 winner’s cheque will also see the FRU through to their Annual General Meeting in late April.

Most importantly, the win reinforced the style of rugby 7s that Fiji must play – open, fast and flamboyant on attack, coupled with controlled aggression in defence.

In comparison, arch pacific rivals Samoa rely on a bit more forward grunt, closer to the kiwi brand of rugby 7s, but as long as Fiji’s basic skills and fitness levels are up to par then for my money, the Fiji style of rugby 7s will always win through, if not on the field, then certainly in the terraces.

On the other hand, as my Tongan bride mumbled as she trundled off to bed after Tonga pipped Canada for the Hong Kong Rugby 7s Plate prize, “Winning rugby 7s is quite simple really. It’s all about Quantum Mechanics and Stephen Hawking’s theory about the universe expanding through space and time.”

Yeah right!

CK