By Pawlo
March 30 2007

Tropical Heat...   Buckets of Sweat...   Pin-stripe Suits...   Poker Games...   Downing Pints... Raucous Behaviour...   and all mixed up with a former Prime Minister !   -  is this really international rugby or a re-run of the Profumo Affair?

It’s Wednesday evening and we have been here a couple of days now and we are all slowly getting used to the heat.   Training has been hard as it is so humid.   As soon as you break into a jog you are dripping with sweat – so it is very different to back home where I am used to training in as many layers as possible.

These are the most humid conditions I have ever had to play in this year, as when we were in Dubai and South Africa it was raining.   It’s very uncomfortable but luckily most of our matches are scheduled for the evenings so we should be ok. 

A few of us went for a bit of a wander around the city on Tuesday night.   We’re very fortunate as the tournament gives all of the players some spending money for while we are here, so I have ordered myself a tailored suit.   I have my fitting in the morning and will pick it up in a few days.  It should be nice – it is black with pin stripes.   Also, as it is my birthday next week, my parents are buying me a computer so I am going to try and get that sorted if I have time.  

I’m a bit nervous about my birthday as all the players know it’s my 21^st on the last day of the Adelaide Sevens, so I’m getting a bit apprehensive about what they might do to me! 

In between training and on the team bus a few of the boys have been playing poker, but we don’t obviously play for money – instead we have to do a forfeit if we lose.   I lost five games in a row today and had to down a pint of water for each loss!   The only good thing about it was that my hydration score (which the medical team checks every day to ensure we are fully hydrated) came out as brilliant! 

I have been sleeping really well, which is perhaps surprising given the time difference, but I am not complaining.   As we near the tournament I am starting to feel a few nerves as there certainly is a lot of pressure on us as a team to perform well this weekend.   England have won out here four years in a row, which is a record, and everyone we meet asks us if we are going to win it for a fifth straight time. 

We had a formal function at lunch today with some of the ex-pats who live out here.   It is a bit of an England tradition to attend this lunch which is called the St George’s Lunch.   Former Prime Minister John Major was there and it was interesting to meet him.   As a rugby player you have to be confident talking to supporters and sponsors and it was good practice today to have to sit with new people and chat to them about things.   But at the same time it really hit home what the English folk over here expect of us – as a lot of people haven’t ever seen England lose in Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong is the jewel in the crown of the IRB Sevens World Series.   It is the oldest and most famous 7’s tournament in the world and is very special.   We all visited the stadium today and it is an incredible place.   It’s actually called the “Hong Kong Stadium” (would you believe!) and is located in So Kon Po, a valley near Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island.   It was fully redeveloped in 1994 and it’s a most beautiful stadium with two big curved arches above the stands and you have the city skyscraper skyline at one end.    I can’t wait to see it when it’s full with 40,000 people and I’m sure it will be an amazing feeling to play there.

 

The crowd can make a tournament and they are meant to be brilliant here as they all support England.   The south stand at Hong Kong Stadium is famous for being the loudest and most “drunk” and that’s near where we have to warm up before each match, so I am looking forward to that.   Apparently supporters queue from four in the morning to get into the stand and by the end of the day the behaviour is quite raucous to say the least!

As a squad, we know we are capable of winning this tournament, but we also know we have a very big job to do.   All of us are feeling a little nervous but that’s not a bad thing.   And if we don’t win at the weekend we will all be extremely disappointed – so everyone is focusing on doing our best.

We had a very hard and physical day today with two big workout and training sessions.   Tomorrow (Thursday) we have the morning off to rest before our final training session in the afternoon.

One bit of bad news, it’s unfortunate that Isoa (Damudamu, Newbury) has been forced to drop out of this week-end’s squad due to the reoccurrence of his nagging knee injury, but hopefully he will be fit and well in time for Adelaide. 

So finally…

Tomorrow, apart from the training, I will chill out as much as I can making sure that I’m as relaxed as possible and eating & drinking the right things; then I’ll aim to get a good night’s sleep before match day one – with the local Hong Kong team first up for us in the pool stages on Friday (followed by Argentina and Korea to complete Pool E on Saturday).