Atlantis/NOVA at Singapore Cricket Club Sevens 2004

 Emil Signes

Singapore, 30-31 October 2004.  Held continuously for the past 57 years, the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) Sevens is one of the oldest continuously running sevens tournaments in the world – the only extant major sevens tournament ones I know to be older are Melrose (1883) – and probably some other Scottish Border sevens – and Middlesex (1926).

It is only within the past 20 years or so, however, that the tournament has enjoyed its very international flavor, and it gets tougher and tougher every year.  This year’s tournament was thought by many to be the toughest ever.

The format is six pools of 4 teams, each playing 3 games on Saturday. The top two teams in each pool plus 4 of the 3^rd place teams advance to a group of 16, with the 4^th place teams and two 3^rd place teams comprising the Bowl.  Following the round of 16, the winners advance to the Ablitt Cup competition and the losers move into the Plate.  Following the first Bowl round, the losers move on to the Jug Competition.

2002.  Atlantis first took part in the SCC Sevens in 2002, when it became the first team ever from the US to participate.  Although we had a successful finish to the weekend, winning the Bowl, it will be hard to think of this year’s tournament without recalling the terrorist attack in Bali three weeks earlier.  Nearly 200 people were killed in two bombings, perhaps as many as 45 of them rugby players.  (Besides the participants in the Bali Tens, who comprised the majority of the rugby casualties, there was also an amateur rugby league team from Sydney on holiday in Bali. An Aussie rules team was there as well.  These teams lost players and are probably counted in that 45 number.  It was a huge loss for the rugby community.) One of those was an American.  Jake Young, a former All-American football player at Nebraska, was playing “one last game” for the Hong Kong FC before he was to rejoin his wife and young son, already relocated in the United States.

Despite the tragic loss of half their squad in Bali, SCC decided not to cancel the tournament because “this is what our lost teammates would have wanted, and besides . . . we didn’t want to let the bastards win.” Despite their tragic losses in Bali, the Hong Kong FC sent a side to lend support to the SCC and it was a huge success.

2003.  Held in the middle of the Rugby World Cup, the tournament only fielded 21 teams, and the depth was not as great as the previous or following year.  Nevertheless, the competition at the top was tremendous as usual, with the Durban Harlequins taking the championship over Taradale.  Although Atlantis won no hardware, we did make it into the Plate round.

2004.  This year there were no worries in the air, and the competition was sky high, certainly the best ever for a tournament renowned for an incredibly high standard. The draw included the following teams:

Pool 1
Durban Harlequins (South Africa) – [last year’s champions and with 5 Springbok 7s players]
Marist North Harbour (New Zealand)
Atlantis – NOVA (USA) [5 US internationals and one Fijian international]
Singapore Barbarians (Singapore) [coached by former NA 7s captain Owen Scrimgeour]

Pool 2
Aussie Spirit (Australia)
Taradale (New Zealand) – last year’s runner-up
PNG Hammerheads (Papua New Guinea)
Singapore Cricket Club (Singapore)

Pool 3
Oriental Rongatai (New Zealand)
British Army Germany – [10 Fijians]
Cobra (Malaysia) [+ some Fijians]
Kurumi (Japan)

Pool 4
British Army UK – [10 Fijians]
New Zealand Legends
Pacific Coast Grizzlies (USA)
SRU Invitational Side (Singapore)

Pool 5
Wellington (New Zealand)
Asahi Valley
Randwick (Australia)
Gove (Australia)

Pool 6
Ponsonby (New Zealand)
Impala (Kenya)
Hong Kong Football Club
NS Wanderers (Malaysia_ [+ some Fijians]

Round Robin Competition

The competition at this tournament is brutal, and the Pool results reflected that.  Durban Harlequins, the defending champion, got by in Pool 1, but had tough games with both North Harbour Marist and Atlantis-NOVA.

In Pool 2, Aussie Spirit knocked off Taradale to win the division, and in Pool 3 Oriental Rongatai, a top NZ side, put away British Army Germany’s Fijians to take the pool

PNG Hammerheads came in #3 in Pool 2, and, as in 2002, it was good to see an old friend, Robin Tarere, their coach.  I had met Robin on several occasions in the 90s when he was captain of Papua New Guinea and I was manager of the US men. In 1992 I swapped with Robin for an authentic PNG grass skirt and phallic appliance.

Pool 4 contained all the controversy, as the tournament organizers had unwittingly placed the eventual finalists in the same bracket. The teams had a brutal round robin match, with the British Army UK coming out on top 19-17.  (The British Army Germany coach told me, however, that the “British Army UK” moniker is a misnomer – it should really be “British Army Planet Earth,” as they have call on all British soldiers; in fact 3 of their players were actually from the British Army in Germany.  

Why, you might ask, so many Fijians in the British Army rugby side?  Commonwealth citizens are eligible for the British army, and after the appearance of a Fijian band at the Edinburgh Tattoo several years ago, Fijians began enlisting.  Their numbers increased, and . . . just what we needed – more Fijian sevens sides – have managed to keep the level of international sevens high indeed. While the Fijians are indeed recruited to play rugby, they also have to take their tours of duty in Iraq, and a some of these Fijian players had just returned.

Pool 5 was won by Wellington and Pool 6 by top NZ club Ponsonby with a thrilling 21-14 victory over Impala from Kenya. 

Ablitt Cup.  The main trophy of The Singapore Cricket Club International Rugby 7’s Tournament is the Ablitt Cup, presented to the club in 1947 to be played for in perpetuity.

This year, the controversial seeding in Pool 4 had sent the New Zealand Legends to play last year’s champion Durban Harlequins in the round of 16 game and it was of final-like quality.  In the end, with the Legends leading 7-5, the Harlequins had a penalty kick in front of the posts as the final whistle blew.  And missed it!  With a loss in our round of 16 game to Wellington, Atlantis then had to face Durban in the Plate Quarterfinal.  But for a dropped pass with 2 ½ minutes to go, we would have been in a position to win the game in the end, but – with a brutal schedule – 2 losses to Durban, one to Wellington and one to North Harbour Marist (plus a win over the Singapore Barbarians), we were knocked out. 

In the end the Army UK repeated their victory over the Legends in an exciting match 26-17 and Durban crushed Randwick (perhaps by as many as 60 points?) for the Plate Championship.

The Pacific Coast Grizzlies from the US went on to win the Bowl championship. 

Atmosphere.  The crowd (estimated at a total of about 7,000 over the two days) is enthusiastic the entire weekend, and the “Tequila girls” (dressed in short short shorts with a bottle of Tequila holstered to their waists and shots for sale) keep male participants’ and spectators’ attention throughout the weekend.  There is a covered area that serves as a tournament shop, where food, programs, T shirts,  jerseys and other souvenirs are sold.

Following the tournament there was a barbecue and party for all the participants; a typical international sevens’ tournament party . . . wonderful!
 

Atlantis-NOVA in Singapore

 Organized and sponsored by NOVA’s manager Bill Gardner and coached by me as the Atlantis representative, our team included the following playing members:

Mark Bokhoven
Riaan Hamilton *
Craig Hartley *
Mike Harvey *
Temesia Kaumaia **
Rich Kindel
Al Lakomskis *
MC Laubscher
Tyson Meek *
Jason Raven *

* US Sevens
** Fiji Sevens

 1-4 doesn’t seem like such a great W-L record for a team with such a pedigree, but as I told the team afterwards, “No one but us will know how well you played.”  This tournament is just outrageous in the level of quality, and our play in all but the Wellington match was actually quite good by any standards.

Atlantis/NOVA at 2004 SCC Sevens
Top - Bill Gardner, MC Laubscher, Rich Kindel, Mark Bokhoven, Craig Hartley, Emil Signes
Bottom - Riaan Hamilton, Mike Harvey, Tyson Meek, Jason Raven, Temesia Kaumaia, Al Lakomskis

 
Grizzlies in Singapore

Two years ago, Atlantis became the first team in the 55-year history of the SCC 7s to participate.  This year there were two, as the Pacific Coast Grizzlies joined the competition.

Americans in Singapore

 There’s 1-2 and there’s 1-2.  This was the record of both American teams in Singapore.  Atlantis-NOVA, in a tough pool, was the only one of the 3^rd place teams to end up with a positive point spread and went on to the Plate as the #13 seed.

If Atlantis-NOVA was in a tough pool, then pity the poor Grizzlies who were in a pool with the two eventual finalists, British Army and NZ Legends.  The Grizzlies point spread didn’t make the top 16 and they were relegated to the Bowl.  The Bowl in Singapore, however, has its benefits for American teams – a realistic possibility to take home hardware.  And so the Grizzlies, as Atlantis had in 2002, went home with the Bowl.

Itinerary.  We arrived in Singapore minutes before midnight Tuesday after a 30-hour trip from home (for this East Coaster, anyway).  We trained twice, however, Wednesday at Turf City, formerly a horse race track and now a shopping center. Thursday morning we scrimmaged the Durban Harlequins (and did quite well).  Thursday afternoon we had a brief training session and then ran some individualized training for members of the American School rugby team. 

In between sessions there was always time for food, food, food, and Singapore has some of the best food in the world.  Lunches were generally at one of the ubiquitous food courts (some choices: Burmese, Malay, Northern Indian, Indian Muslim, Nepalese, Japanese, Chinese, etc.) but Bill Gardner sponsored a couple of dinners at really nice venues.

Singapore.  From Westerners’ perspective, the history of Singapore began in 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles established a trading station there; in 1824 Singapore was ceded “in perpetuity” to the East India Company by the Sultan of Johore. 

In 1942 Singapore was occupied by Japan, returning to the British fold after World War II.  It formed part of Malaysia at this nation’s founding in 1961, but separated from Malaysia and became a fully independent nation in 1965.

Singapore lies right between Malaysia and Indonesia, but unlike both its Muslim neighbors, Singapore is more than 75% ethnic Chinese and Buddhist.  The other 25% include significant Malay and Indian communities.  

Singapore has a population of 3.3 million in an area of 264 square miles.  It is considered one of the safest countries in the world.  It’s quite prescriptive: chewing gum is illegal and caning is a legalized form of punishment.

There are a lot of ethnic areas in Singapore, and although we didn’t get to too many this year, in 2002 I was able to visit Little India, which was in preparation for its Indian New Year celebration (“Happy Deepavali” signs were everywhere).  During that trip I ate at the Banana Leaf Apolo restaurant and marveled at the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. 

Trinidad, Brazil, Singapore – what other sport unites so many geographically far-flung places as seven-a-side rugby?  Thanks to yet another tournament that reaffirms sevens rugby as the greatest sport ever!!