Fantastic NZ Sevens! Part 1
Over the past two days I attended the IRB Sevens at The Westpac Stadium.
For those of you not familiar with Sevens - The tournament is played under the laws of the game of rugby with some Sevens variations which are framed by the IRB. The 16 teams are split into 4 pools. Play on the first day of the tournament consists of pool matches on a round robin basis. Points are awarded for wins, losses and draws and go towards each team's final points tabulation. Each team is made up of 12 players; seven on the field during the match, with a reserve bench of five. Each game runs for 2 x 7 minute halves with a 2 minute half time; the final game of the tournament is 2 x 10 minute halves.The winner of the New Zealand leg wins the local tournament trophy.
The fun started on Feb 1st, where we went down to Civic Square to watch the Seven's parade and welcome all the 16 teams to the Capital.
The hot favourites were the Kiwi lads, and the Fijians. The entrance of the Kenyans was very exciting - they had Kenyan drummers. There were salsa dancers before the Argentineans. Portugal also got a warm welcome, as it was their first visit to the Wellington Sevens. My observation of the PNG team was that they had a lot of abnormally short players. The Samoans looked buff. Actually, all the Polynesian players looked good, but the Tongan team looked GREAT!
I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was a Seven's novice. I had heard fantastic things about it, with friends commenting that it is a huge fun party with a great atmosphere.
Nothing prepared me for how fun it was. The stadium was packed with about 30,000 people.
I think I was one of the only people in the stadium not dressed up. People went all out. Rob and his mates had some cool matching t'shirts.
It made me realize how much I love Kiwi's party attitude and how they really get into things. The crowd was singing, everyone was smiling, people were dancing and everyone was cheering or boo - ing for the Australians - and cheering for anyone they played. It was fantastic.
It was fun to watch these skilled rugby players play well. The Kiwi team was disappointing, we got whipped by Fiji - who were really amazing - and fast!
In a surprise Samoa beat South Africa in the semi's so it was a Samoa-Fiji final. It was a surprise and the crowd went wild.
My family was split - Fiji Supporters were Rob (my brother in law) JJ and Simi(my nephews) and Jonah (Fijian cousin). Samoa supporters were me, Dad and Matile (sister). The crowd was crazy - chanting Fiji-Samoa simultaneously. Both flags flew proudly. Secretly, I thought Samoa was outclassed because Fiji had been playing so superbly through the competition. They were amazingly fast runners - and once they got the ball wide and started running with it, they were unstoppable. Despite this, Samoa played a physical game and were unyielding.
Samoa won! It was an awesome game. The final score - Samoa 17 - Fiji 14.
I am now planning my costume for next years Sevens competition.
For those of you not familiar with Sevens - The tournament is played under the laws of the game of rugby with some Sevens variations which are framed by the IRB. The 16 teams are split into 4 pools. Play on the first day of the tournament consists of pool matches on a round robin basis. Points are awarded for wins, losses and draws and go towards each team's final points tabulation. Each team is made up of 12 players; seven on the field during the match, with a reserve bench of five. Each game runs for 2 x 7 minute halves with a 2 minute half time; the final game of the tournament is 2 x 10 minute halves.The winner of the New Zealand leg wins the local tournament trophy.
The fun started on Feb 1st, where we went down to Civic Square to watch the Seven's parade and welcome all the 16 teams to the Capital.
The hot favourites were the Kiwi lads, and the Fijians. The entrance of the Kenyans was very exciting - they had Kenyan drummers. There were salsa dancers before the Argentineans. Portugal also got a warm welcome, as it was their first visit to the Wellington Sevens. My observation of the PNG team was that they had a lot of abnormally short players. The Samoans looked buff. Actually, all the Polynesian players looked good, but the Tongan team looked GREAT!
I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was a Seven's novice. I had heard fantastic things about it, with friends commenting that it is a huge fun party with a great atmosphere.
Nothing prepared me for how fun it was. The stadium was packed with about 30,000 people.
I think I was one of the only people in the stadium not dressed up. People went all out. Rob and his mates had some cool matching t'shirts.
It made me realize how much I love Kiwi's party attitude and how they really get into things. The crowd was singing, everyone was smiling, people were dancing and everyone was cheering or boo - ing for the Australians - and cheering for anyone they played. It was fantastic.
It was fun to watch these skilled rugby players play well. The Kiwi team was disappointing, we got whipped by Fiji - who were really amazing - and fast!
In a surprise Samoa beat South Africa in the semi's so it was a Samoa-Fiji final. It was a surprise and the crowd went wild.
My family was split - Fiji Supporters were Rob (my brother in law) JJ and Simi(my nephews) and Jonah (Fijian cousin). Samoa supporters were me, Dad and Matile (sister). The crowd was crazy - chanting Fiji-Samoa simultaneously. Both flags flew proudly. Secretly, I thought Samoa was outclassed because Fiji had been playing so superbly through the competition. They were amazingly fast runners - and once they got the ball wide and started running with it, they were unstoppable. Despite this, Samoa played a physical game and were unyielding.
Samoa won! It was an awesome game. The final score - Samoa 17 - Fiji 14.
I am now planning my costume for next years Sevens competition.
posted by Kiwi Chick at 11:30 pm
2 Comments:
Ooooh, I'm jealous! I wanna watch...the players...
You write very well.
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