News - 2008

Fiji ready to claim back mantle from New Zealand

Dubai, November 10, 2008 – The Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens’ favourite entertainers, Fiji, are returning to the city in their quest to hold aloft the Dubai trophy for the third time.

Despite the fact that they have featured in the final several times, the title has proved elusive to the Fijians in recent years (having last won it in 1998).

This year sees the return of Fijian rugby legend, Waisale Serevi, as coach. Serevi is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest sevens players of all time, and he is likely to be an invaluable asset in instilling some fear into Fiji’s opposition.

“I’m delighted to be back in the Fijian set-up and winning in Dubai is obviously my immediate aim”, Serevi said.

“The only major change since last year is that I am back involved and coaching the team. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the results, we’ll just have to wait and see”, he added.

Fiji, who are renowned for their power, pace, skill and ability to entertain the crowd, will be looking to launch a successful campaign in Dubai in their bid to add to their previous overall IRB Sevens World Series title, which they won in the 2005/2006 season. Another Series win to add to his two Rugby World Cup Sevens titles would be yet another accolade in Serevi’s remarkable rugby career.

The coach admits his side’s strength is their ability to surprise their opposition. “Our main strength is our unpredictability – being able to do the extraordinary is what we are very good at,” said Serevi.

“Along with four or five teams, such as New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and England, we stand a very good chance of victory here. It’s a reflection on the strength of the Series that so many teams are capable of winning,” he added.

Gary Chapman, President Group Services and Dnata, Emirates Group is delighted to be welcoming Serevi and the Fijians back to the UAE.

“It is an absolute pleasure to welcome Waisale Serevi and his team back to Dubai. The Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens would not be the same without the entertaining Fijian side.

“Fiji are always an extremely popular team and we are looking forward to watching their exciting brand of rugby once again for what promises to be an even bigger and better tournament this year at our new Emirates purpose-built venue, The Sevens,” added Chapman.

The Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens takes place at The Sevens, on the Al Ain Road just beyond the Outlet Mall, from November 27-29, 2008. There are 15,000 parking spaces available at the new venue and from 5pm each day, over 170 buses will be working overtime to transport fans from the venue back into convenient locations in Dubai. These drop-off points are: Festival City, Media City (family drop off point), Barasti, Al Marooj Rotana’s Double Decker and The Irish Village.

The complete list of teams competing at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens is: Arabian Gulf, Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Kenya, New Zealand, Portugal, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, USA, Wales, Zimbabwe.

For more information on the tournament, log onto www.dubairugby7s.com.