Hong Kong Rugby 7's

Let me say right from the outset. Canada played amazingly! Most of you probably don't even know that Canada has an international level Rugby team, especially one that is good enough to come in second in the "plate' final, which is the second tier of the 3-tier 7's play. The Rugby 7's, as I mentioned earlier, is a 3-day party - continuous world class rugby play for up to 9 hours a day, for 3 days - the rugby providing the justification for 3 days of continous drinking on the part of a goodly share of the 40,000 fans, many of whom fly in just for the 7's.

Even though you won't see it in the pictures I've included here, Canada did lose a couple matches as well, one against the Fijiian mountain-men. who ended up winning the cup final. Of course, as at every 7's, there was the odd 'streaker' (in drag in this case) to test the running skills of stadium security staff, no contest as you can see by the tail-wagging taunt in one picture. One of the most fun things about the 7's, besides the rugby and party atmosphere of course, are the costumes. I couldn't possibly capture the scope of dress-up at the 7's, but look at a couple of the pictures and then multiply it by 1000-fold.

As The Irish Rovers would say: 'Wasn't that a party!'