The band are back together and the greatest hits tour has started. Albeit in the unlikely surroundings of Pitch 4 at the furthest extremity of The Sevens complex. But they could yet finish with a stadium date on Saturday.
The reminders of the glory days of Fiji’s golden generation were many on Day 1 of the Emirates Dubai Sevens.
Osea Kolinisau, World Rugby hall of famer, kicked the goals. Pio Tuwai did some supernatural offloading. Even Jeremy Manning was up from Abu Dhabi to help out with the coaching, just as he did at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
And, after a draw and a win in their first two games as a LAR Speranza 22 side, the day ended with a song of thanks.
“The song means, in Fijian, ‘Rely on God’,” said Kolinisau, who was Fiji’s captain when they became the inaugural sevens Olympic champions five years ago.
“No matter what the situation, win or lose, we always rely on God. I think the boys chose that song because it fits our mood today. We were a bit down in the first game, but our belief was still strong.”
Pitch 4 seemed an odd place for sevens royalty to be making their return. On the edge of the Sevens precinct, there is little passing traffic. The few spectators who were present for LAR Speranza’s 14-14 draw with Monaco Impis, and 21-5 win over Zastava, were given a treat.
“It doesn’t feel strange,” Kolinisau said. “It is the same rugby ground, the same markings, the same number of players. Us Fijians just find joy in throwing the ball around. No matter where we play, we try to find the joy and fun in it.”
How the tour squad ended up reunited in Dubai is remarkable, and is in large part thanks to the lone non-Fijian in their squad in young Welshman Stefan Collins.
Gallery from Day 1
He travelled to Fiji at the start of 2020. After checking into Facebook on arrival, he was contacted by Tuwai, against whom he had played in an invitational sevens tournament in the UK in the past. Within two days, he was living with one of the greats of sevens rugby.
“It stemmed from living with Pio,” Collins said of the Life After Rugby part of the LAR Speranza story. “Watching him on the TV, you think, ‘This guy has got everything, he is one of the best players.’ Then you go there and they barely have a roof over their heads.
“Life after rugby can be downhill because of the way life is over there. We wanted to do something to change that. I said, ‘Do you think we can round a few of the boys up and play a few tournaments?’ I was introduced to Osea, and everything was green from there.”
The tournament they are entered into this weekend is the highest standard after the World Series, and the Fijians are under no illusions as to the task facing them.
“What other people forget is these guys are 36 and 38,” Collins said. “They’re seeing names. Yes, experience can carry you through. But some of the teams we are playing here pay players to train five days a week.
“Our boys don’t do that – but they haven’t lost yet. We will see on Friday and Saturday if the experience does kick in. There are a lot of strong teams here.”
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
I Care A Lot
Directed by: J Blakeson
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage
3/5 stars
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