Last weekend the annual Hertz Wellington Sevens
competition came to town. This is the fourth leg of the IRB Rugby Sevens
competition, which is played in Gold Coast Queensland ,
Dubai and Port Elizabeth (RSA) before heading to
New Zealand .
It then goes on to Las Vegas , Hong Kong, and Tokyo , before finishing up in Glasgow
and London .
The unique aspect of the Seven competition in Wellington is that the
audience get dressed up in fancy dress, and the event turns into a giant party
throughout the city. Whilst the rugby is played at the Westpac stadium, many
bars in town host their own parties and many people get dressed up despite the
fact that they have no tickets to the actual event. The partying goes on long
into the night.
I went down to the Chicago Bar on the waterfront and snapped
a few of the costumes:
The competition was interesting as the traditional strong
teams are now being challenged by some of the lesser countries, as rugby sevens
is going to become an Olympic sport in Rio in2016. Countries such as USA
are ramping up their ability, and there are some surprise contenders in this
year’s competition, including Spain
and Portugal .
But the real surprise at the tournament was the Kenyan team, who were narrowly
defeated by England
in the final. New Zealand
finished 3rd, which was a disappointing result for them, having been
knocked out by Kenya
in the semi-final.
In the past, Sevens was seen in New Zealand as a route through to
the senior All Blacks team. However the sport is evolving and the old assumptions
that countries with a strong RU side will automatically be in the top echelon
is no longer the case, as more specialist Sevens players are now making their
way. Let’s see what happens at the next leg in Las Vegas.
