Ro & Ra's Commonwealth Sevens Diary
By Ro & Ra August 5 2002
The diary of Ro and Ra's experiences at the Commonwealth Sevens events over the weekend, where England failed to sparkle and there were very few current or former Tigers.
By Ro & Ra August 5 2002
The diary of Ro and Ra's experiences at the Commonwealth Sevens events over the weekend, where England failed to sparkle and there were very few current or former Tigers.
DAY 1
Ra's already having underwear problems and the first match hasn't started yet!
Game on! England have a lot of support in the crowd. Sadly they're failing to live up to it, going down to the Cooke Islands and Kenya before rallying in the second half of both games. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd have assumed they'd not played together before (or even met!).
Kenya and Canada both suffered from the officials wearing similar coloured shirts. The invisible man on the wing they were passing to was in fact the touch judge.
We cheered and cheered when Freddie ran out for Samoa, then realised he had no hair and weren't 100% sure if it was him or his brother, then his brother scored. He's even bigger than Freddie. Also cheered loudly when Stan ran out for Canada, a lone voice as Ra was in the ladies adjusting her undies. Poor Stan got spear tackled by a Kiwi but appeared none the worse for it. We had to leave before they played Scotland but were home in time to see the highlights of the game and his lovely try. Was it really 7 nil?
DAY 2
Sunny start to the day in Huddersfield but hit fog as we crossed the Pennines. Concerned about the weather in Manchester though Saturday turned out to be the hottest of the 3 days, the factor 20 was liberally applied. Sported my lovely new away shirt.
Thought we'd be torn over in who to support in the England v Samoa game, but Freddie had disappeared, never to be seen again (oh god, I hope they haven't broken him!). England were still unconvincing, but managed to win. They'd need to overcome the Fijians in the quarter finals who had been beaten by Australia in their final pool game, thanks in part to a penalty try awarded by our friend Mr Lander, and despite the Australians apparently not having a single supporter in the ground as they were roundly booed every time they ran onto the pitch or scored a try!
The spectators' favourites were the Niuie Islanders, who played up to the crowd by performing their Haka before each match. The commentator decided to tell us all about them, but simply regurgitated an article which had appeared in Friday's telegraph throughout their games (go to www.telegraph.co.uk/sport or visit the Niuie Island website at www.niuieisland.com ).
The commentator had been exceedingly thorough in his research (not) and had to hand many interesting facts about individual players (eg "British Lion, Simon Taylor" and "Josh Lewsey, voted sexiest man in Britain") which he repeated ad nauseam throughout the competition. He even managed to forget that games traditionally consist of two halves and had the Kenyans knocked out of the competition at half time.
By Saturday evening things had really begun to hot up. Having already brought along our own Kiwi (she has been to Welford Road and is an avid Ollie fan) and a faux Kiwi, we found ourselves in seats surrounded by a whole crowd of them. I had to try to explain to one that yes, we were supporting England, but also any team which had a Tiger or ex Tiger in it (which England didn't) and that Leicester was indeed in England, not Canada, Fiji or Samoa.
The entertainment continued after the matches had finished, with an impromptu Haka performed by two groups of (opposing?) Fijian supporters and a rendition of the Fijian National Anthem in the queue for the Park and Ride.
Finally got to bed at midnight after taking a slight detour in Ashton-under-Lyne.
DAY 3
Up bright and early at 6:30 to get to the stadium for an 11 am kick off. Suspect it's slightly less of an effort to be a player than a spectator. The Park and Ride, which had functioned perfectly well until today was thrown into sudden chaos as the roads around Old Trafford were closed for the Triathlon and no-one had thought to move the signposts to the car park. Two police women were re-directing the traffic to an alternative route and an extensive queue of cars. Despite our careful planning we got to our seats only 5 minutes before the first game began.
There were three competitions in total (like school sports, no-one is allowed to actually lose); the bowl, the plate and the medals. England were in the plate competition (i.e. not the worst but not the best either). They beat Australia in the final to the delight of everyone but the three Australians in the crowd. Commonwealth Games sevens is ideal, allowing England to win something even though they've been beaten (by Fiji in the Quarter Finals). Scotland won the bowl competition (best losers or worst winners?) showing that the games are also helping emerging nations.
Then came the big one, the medal competition. Samoa v South Africa for the bronze and Fiji v Kiwi for the gold and silver. Lander refereed the first game which South Africa won, and, to everyone's surprise, no penalty tries were awarded.
The final was a slightly disappointing affair in the end. Though Fiji started strongly, the ref, Stuart Dickinson, ended up carding two Fijians for late tackles and the result became something of a formality. Bruce Reihana scored tries and kicked conversions and looked good all round. He's clearly peaked now and next season will be all downhill playing for the Saints.
The commentator once again embarrassed himself by announcing the Samoans as bronze medalists, which the South Africans looked a bit confused by!
The day had been great fun, despite the weather which fluctuated between tropical monsoon style downpours and baking (or, rather, steaming) heat. The medal ceremony took for ever, as every squad member in the three teams had a medal and a flower presented individually. How much more sensible to be given something useful, like chocolate.
Our enjoyment was heightened by the fact that those leaving before the end of the final game not only missed a Fijian being carded and the final Kiwi try but also not one, but three Hakas performed around the ground (including one directly in front of us!) to the delight of the remaining spectators.
Taking 16 year old Kiwis to matches does have its advantages. I am now the proud owner of a pen used by one of the gold medal-winning team to autograph her ticket. No idea who he is - chap with a lot of hair. We did offer to ask Freddie to autograph a ticket for her too, but she decided he wasn't cute enough! That's teenagers for you!
Ra's already having underwear problems and the first match hasn't started yet!
Game on! England have a lot of support in the crowd. Sadly they're failing to live up to it, going down to the Cooke Islands and Kenya before rallying in the second half of both games. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd have assumed they'd not played together before (or even met!).
Kenya and Canada both suffered from the officials wearing similar coloured shirts. The invisible man on the wing they were passing to was in fact the touch judge.
We cheered and cheered when Freddie ran out for Samoa, then realised he had no hair and weren't 100% sure if it was him or his brother, then his brother scored. He's even bigger than Freddie. Also cheered loudly when Stan ran out for Canada, a lone voice as Ra was in the ladies adjusting her undies. Poor Stan got spear tackled by a Kiwi but appeared none the worse for it. We had to leave before they played Scotland but were home in time to see the highlights of the game and his lovely try. Was it really 7 nil?
DAY 2
Sunny start to the day in Huddersfield but hit fog as we crossed the Pennines. Concerned about the weather in Manchester though Saturday turned out to be the hottest of the 3 days, the factor 20 was liberally applied. Sported my lovely new away shirt.
Thought we'd be torn over in who to support in the England v Samoa game, but Freddie had disappeared, never to be seen again (oh god, I hope they haven't broken him!). England were still unconvincing, but managed to win. They'd need to overcome the Fijians in the quarter finals who had been beaten by Australia in their final pool game, thanks in part to a penalty try awarded by our friend Mr Lander, and despite the Australians apparently not having a single supporter in the ground as they were roundly booed every time they ran onto the pitch or scored a try!
The spectators' favourites were the Niuie Islanders, who played up to the crowd by performing their Haka before each match. The commentator decided to tell us all about them, but simply regurgitated an article which had appeared in Friday's telegraph throughout their games (go to www.telegraph.co.uk/sport or visit the Niuie Island website at www.niuieisland.com ).
The commentator had been exceedingly thorough in his research (not) and had to hand many interesting facts about individual players (eg "British Lion, Simon Taylor" and "Josh Lewsey, voted sexiest man in Britain") which he repeated ad nauseam throughout the competition. He even managed to forget that games traditionally consist of two halves and had the Kenyans knocked out of the competition at half time.
By Saturday evening things had really begun to hot up. Having already brought along our own Kiwi (she has been to Welford Road and is an avid Ollie fan) and a faux Kiwi, we found ourselves in seats surrounded by a whole crowd of them. I had to try to explain to one that yes, we were supporting England, but also any team which had a Tiger or ex Tiger in it (which England didn't) and that Leicester was indeed in England, not Canada, Fiji or Samoa.
The entertainment continued after the matches had finished, with an impromptu Haka performed by two groups of (opposing?) Fijian supporters and a rendition of the Fijian National Anthem in the queue for the Park and Ride.
Finally got to bed at midnight after taking a slight detour in Ashton-under-Lyne.
DAY 3
Up bright and early at 6:30 to get to the stadium for an 11 am kick off. Suspect it's slightly less of an effort to be a player than a spectator. The Park and Ride, which had functioned perfectly well until today was thrown into sudden chaos as the roads around Old Trafford were closed for the Triathlon and no-one had thought to move the signposts to the car park. Two police women were re-directing the traffic to an alternative route and an extensive queue of cars. Despite our careful planning we got to our seats only 5 minutes before the first game began.
There were three competitions in total (like school sports, no-one is allowed to actually lose); the bowl, the plate and the medals. England were in the plate competition (i.e. not the worst but not the best either). They beat Australia in the final to the delight of everyone but the three Australians in the crowd. Commonwealth Games sevens is ideal, allowing England to win something even though they've been beaten (by Fiji in the Quarter Finals). Scotland won the bowl competition (best losers or worst winners?) showing that the games are also helping emerging nations.
Then came the big one, the medal competition. Samoa v South Africa for the bronze and Fiji v Kiwi for the gold and silver. Lander refereed the first game which South Africa won, and, to everyone's surprise, no penalty tries were awarded.
The final was a slightly disappointing affair in the end. Though Fiji started strongly, the ref, Stuart Dickinson, ended up carding two Fijians for late tackles and the result became something of a formality. Bruce Reihana scored tries and kicked conversions and looked good all round. He's clearly peaked now and next season will be all downhill playing for the Saints.
The commentator once again embarrassed himself by announcing the Samoans as bronze medalists, which the South Africans looked a bit confused by!
The day had been great fun, despite the weather which fluctuated between tropical monsoon style downpours and baking (or, rather, steaming) heat. The medal ceremony took for ever, as every squad member in the three teams had a medal and a flower presented individually. How much more sensible to be given something useful, like chocolate.
Our enjoyment was heightened by the fact that those leaving before the end of the final game not only missed a Fijian being carded and the final Kiwi try but also not one, but three Hakas performed around the ground (including one directly in front of us!) to the delight of the remaining spectators.
Taking 16 year old Kiwis to matches does have its advantages. I am now the proud owner of a pen used by one of the gold medal-winning team to autograph her ticket. No idea who he is - chap with a lot of hair. We did offer to ask Freddie to autograph a ticket for her too, but she decided he wasn't cute enough! That's teenagers for you!
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