It is difficult to know who should be more grateful.
Is it Waisale Serevi, for the chance to right one of the few wrongs in what has been arguably the most luminous career in the history of the abbreviated format?
Or the watching public, for one last chance to see the Fijian great in action where he belongs, on Pitch 1 in Dubai?
Somehow, the man who has done more to elevate the status of rugby’s short form never earned a trophy winner’s medal in Dubai. Fiji have still never won the Emirates International Trophy.
Despite being a good few years into a retirement that once appeared never likely to happen, he will get a belated chance to stand on the podium this afternoon.
Serevi was a try-scorer, and the main orchestrator, of a 17-0 win for J9 Legends over the rugby league celebrities of Joining Jack in Friday’s International Veterans semi-final.
The side set up by Joost van der Westhuizen, the former South Africa scrum-half, to raise awareness of motor neurone disease had lost to the same side in pool play the previous day.
However, Carlos Spencer, Stephen Larkham, Serevi and the rest proved too good for the likes of Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson and Sean Long the second time around.
So Serevi gets to play on the main field in front of 45,000 revellers at 3.25 Saturday. One last shot at that trophy.
“It has been a while, around five or six years, since I last came to Dubai with the IRB sevens series,” said the former Fiji captain, 45, who now coaches in the United States.
“To be in the final, inside that stadium, is good and I am really looking forward to running on that field one more time. We want to win the trophy for Joost.”
Over the latter years of an international career in which he harvested 1,310 world series points, it appeared Serevi was never going to give in to the dying of the light. Given his status in Fiji, his adoring public did not want him to leave, either.
The world series has been a less-colourful place since he finally did give in to the ageing process in 2007.
“I have been missing it, I cannot run away from that,” Serevi said. “I still follow the IRB series, even though I am in America. Dubai is one of the three top tournaments, along with Wellington and Hong Kong.
“To be in Dubai in this year, to play, raise funds for the J9 Foundation and now to be in the final means a lot. I have to tick this last box. Fiji has been struggling to win in Dubai, but we are working hard to win that final.”
J9 will have to topple the defending champions if they are going to win the tournament. Xodus Steelers may not have the same starry cast as their opponents, but they are not far behind.
A squad boasting numerous Test caps, mostly from Scotland, New Zealand and South Africa, repeated the trick from the final 12 months ago as they beat Christina Noble in the other semi-final.
Thinus Delport, the former Springbok, scored the only try of the game as the Steelers overcame the team that had won the International Veterans title five times in succession before last year.
“J9 have world stars in their team and they are looking really strong, so it is not going to be easy,” said Delport, who was a Test colleague of many of the players who will be his opponents today.
“I know those guys well, but we have all been retired so long that I’m not sure there’s such a thing as the inside track anymore.
“A lot of respect will be shown between us, but we are still going to be going for it in that final.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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