Sixteen captains today gathered at the Super Tree Grove in the iconic Gardens by the Bay in Singapore ahead of an exciting weekend of action at the eighth round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The Singapore National Stadium will be host to a two-day event on 28-29 April, as 16 teams battle it out for the HSBC Singapore Sevens 2018 title.
Being in Singapore brings back good memories for defending HSBC Singapore Sevens champions Canada, captain Nathan Hirayama said “We have a lot of good memories from last year, being back in the hotel and the environment brings back a lot of good memories. Things went our way that weekend, we got on a roll and it was a really special weekend for Canada Rugby.”
Hirayama added “One thing that we have been really struggling with this series is limiting our own mistakes and that’s one thing we are really focussing on. We have just got to go out there and express ourselves and have a good time.”
New Zealand, who recently took home gold at the Commonwealth Games last weekend have quickly turned their focus back on to the series. With everything to play for, New Zealand currently sit in third place behind South Africa and Fiji in first and second place respectively.
New Zealand captain Tim Mikkelson today said, “It was great to get the win in the Gold Coast but we are straight back into it in Singapore.”
“We are on the World Series now and we really want to back up a good performance. [we need to] secure the ball and hold onto it. If we can look after it and hold it we can get some points that will go a huge way. Defence wins tournaments and if we can really do that well, we can go pretty close.”
Mikkleson added “hopefully we can do the business on the weekend.“
The action gets underway at 11:00 local time on Saturday (GMT+8) with Scotland taking on Australia. Follow the action on www.worldrugby.org/sevens and @WorldRugby7s
Source: www.worldrugby.org
