Hong Kong Sevens 2009

Well, I had hoped to be at the Hong Kong Sevens, but unfortunately it looked like it would cost about a month of my teacher’s salary just to get there and into the stadium. Accommodation, food, and drink would have been a load extra on top.

Instead we settled for going to Beijing each day of the competition (Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) to sit in The Den pub and watch it on their big screens. From 4pm on Friday to 7pm Sunday we spent 24 hours in the The Den and watched 55 of the 57 games (had to leave early on Friday to catch last bus).

Overall it was a pretty good weekend and a lot less alcohol was consumed than we originally expected. Most of the games went as expected until we got to the Quater Finals and there were a few upsets. First was Kenya beating New Zealand, the next came when Fiji beat England. I had expected a NZ – England Semi but it was not to be. After I got over my disappointment at England being out of the Cup, I put my support behind Fiji.

The Plate and Cup finals were by far the closest and best games of the whole weekend. In the Plate final an outstanding final play from Tonga won the their match against Canada by 2 points. This was only topped by Fiji scoring first against South Africa in the Cup final and managing keep hold of the lead right to the end. The pub, which was quite full of Fiji supporters by then, went wild.

All in all a great weekend. The Australian leg of the Sevens World Series is this weekend, but I think I’ll just try and catch it online.