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After the Hong Kong fireworks, Nick Jordan gives us his thoughts on the next leg of impending IRB World Sevens Series - the Adelaide Sevens.

Dark clouds are gathering over the Adelaide Oval for this weekend's IRB Sevens with two tragic accidents since Saturday affecting the close-knit sevens community.

New Zealand playmaker Zar Lawrence learned of his 15 year old brother's death in a car accident in Auckland just hours before taking to the field in Hong Kong.

As a tribute to his brother, the 27-year-old Lawrence, who has played 23 tournaments since 2005, decided to continue to play until the end of the tournament, wearing an armband bearing his brother’s name.

Less than 24 hours later, former Australian captain Shawn Mackay was hit by a car in Durban following the Brumbies match against the Sharks.

The 26-year old played for the Wallabies in 22 tournaments between 2004 and 2008, including Adelaide, before his move to the Brumbies.

It is understood Mackay was struck by the vehicle while trying to enter a taxi in the early hours of the morning. Mackay was rushed to and admitted to the intensive care unit with serious head and leg injuries. He is in an induced coma and there are fears he could be left paralysed. Doctors will attempt to bring him out of the coma late Tuesday local time.

Dr Craig Springate, the Sharks team doctor who operated on Mackay, said: "There is some concern about paralysis, but we will only know when he recovers from the anaesthetic. The spinal cord is intact but there is some swelling."

Waratahs and Wallabies star Lote Tuqiri played with Mackay at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and said he was saddened by the news.

"You just hope he's in good health and feel for him and his family and what they're going through," Tuqiri said. "All our thoughts are with him and his family at the moment, and the Brumbies as well.

The tragedies cast a shadow over the beautiful Adelaide Oval, which hosts the event for the third time, and the fascinating IRB Sevens World Series race.

Adelaide always open

Last year, South Africa famously ended New Zealand’s streak of 47 successive wins in the IRB sevens series, beating the Kiwis 15-7 in the Cup Final, and thus head to Australia as defending champions. Tonga beat Kenya 14-12 to take the Plate, Argentina beat the United States 26-21 for the Bowl title while Wales beat Canada 12-7 in the Shield final.

In the inaugural year, Fiji won the Cup 21-7 over Samoa, Australia took the Plate 31-0 from South Africa, Wales won the Bowl 26-14 over Tonga and Canada defeated Japan 43-17 for the Shield.

And Fiji is the team to watch after their 26-24 triumph in Hong Kong which broke the remarkable 23-month drought since that victory.

Coach Ilisea Tanivula noted the criticism at home had spurred on his new-look team.

"Back home we were written off by our fans but it worked in our favour," Tanivula said.

"There were no expectations. It gave us motivation to do better. Fijians around the world didn't give us a chance but all credit to the boys, I take my hat off to them."

Fiji plays Argentina (whom they have not lost to in 11 straight matches), France and Scotland in Pool B and Pool C features New Zealand, the USA, Wales and Tonga.
Technically, the Kiwis remain part of a four-way tussle for the IRB Sevens. However, for them (60 points), Fiji (62) and England (68) the Adelaide event is do-or-die.

South Africa, leading the table on 84 points, effectively only need to make the final in Adelaide and London and the semi in Murrayfield to seal the Series.

Still, Paul Treu couldn't hide his disappointment at the Hong Kong result on his daily blog (www.paultreusevens.com).

"We are disappointed, but there is also lot of positives that we could take from this tournament.

"I am pleased with our second half performances for all our games especially the way we fought back in the final. For three tournaments we had the lead and we allowed other teams to come back in the game. Our players are gutted, but they really tried hard.
"I have said it before, it is about continually improving as a team and as long as we are doing our best I am happy."

The Boks should ease through Pool D containing Kenya (despite their two recent wins over New Zealand), the Cook Islands and Japan, and their path to the Adelaide final could then be blocked by England at the semi final stage.

In head to heads South Africa leads the contest 20-17, though in the Cup knock out phases the tally reads 13 to England and 10 to South Africa. The last three match ups (San Diego, George and Dubai) have been decided by three, five and seven points respectively.

England coach Ben Ryan is looking for improvement from his charges when they face Samoa, Australia and Portugal in Pool A.

“I know this side can do better but we didn’t keep the ball. We spilled out a couple of times at the breakdown and they put pressure on us there, we need to relax on the ball and we just didn’t do that, we looked a little agitated," he said at Hong Kong.

“We have been really close to the perfect season but Sevens is like that. We have made a huge jump over the last six months. I’m very disappointed that we haven’t put ourselves in the top spot of the world rankings but we are going to have to bounce back in Adelaide.”

Calm after the Hong Kong storm

Adelaide, the city of churches, is set beside the River Torrens between the Adelaide Hills and waters of Gulf St Vincent, and locals believe Colonel William Light got it right in 1837 when he laid out his broad streets and surrounded them with a generous green cushion of parkland.

The result is a place where traffic seldom jams and the Adelaide Oval and other inner-city highlights are all an easy walk away. After the chaos that is Hong Kong, and the vast distances needed to travel to the ground in Dubai, this will be a welcome relief for the teams.

As will the return to a sixteen team format, where there are less mis-matches and it is markedly easier to understand not only who qualifies from pool play but also who plays who in the knock out phase.

The decision to drag out the Adelaide event to three days - a "mark of confidence" in the tournament according to ARU's John O'Neill - will be watched with interest. The first eight games will be up against Adelaide versus St Kilda in the local Australian Rules code, and a Friday night program means six days of rugby sevens in the last ten for the players, broadcasters and other tournament personnel, which could lead to a feeling of burn out.

Or, it may be just as the ARU envisages, and Adelaide CBD workers and rugby fans from across the country will have the perfect start to a weekend festival of rugby.
Whether two or three days, the rugby should be sensational, on the back of a thriller in the Hong Kong final, six separate winners in the last seven tournaments and upsets continuing every day at every level.

Who would have picked Tonga to dispose of Scotland (to nil) and France in the space of a couple of hours in the Plate at Hong Kong, or Canada to beat RWC champions Wales, or New Zealand to be virtually knocked out of the title race by the long-legged Kenyans?

The Cup round should feature the English, Samoans, Argentinians, Fijians, Kiwis, Springboks and Kenyans. One of USA, Wales and Tonga will join them on Day Three, and current form suggests the Pacific Islanders.

There have been some boilovers in previous Adelaide Sevens, such as the Cook Islands beating Argentina and Kenya twice disposing of England, and predicting the semi finalists in 2009 is, well, unpredictable.

However, the signs point to an England-Fiji final, which would really open up the IRB race with two to play.

All will be revealed in what may be a cool Adelaide with highs of 21 degrees forecast, after a week of 30+, though there is unlikely to be the monsoon rain that disrupted Hong Kong.