The men of Samurai-Red Rock won the Cayman Sevens by storming through defences put up by many of the world’s best sevens players. The Fijians flicked creative passes, drove opponents into the turf as if they were sod plugs and galloped across the try line with remarkable frequency.
So that’s it right? That’s the whole story, right? What’s there to add to the fact that they won our top-class tournament two years in a row?
The way they did it, that’s what.
The Samurai-Red Rock team is not only impressive for how its players crushed opponents and zigzagged over grass like gazelles. This band of friendly Fijians oozed sportsmanship and humility. They don’t trash talk, they don’t fight and they don’t boast. They don’t even jump around much when they win. After Sunday’s final, for example, they huddled on the field and proceeded to pray and sing for several minutes.
Seeing the grace and dignity of the Fijian players in Cayman this weekend reminded me of Fiji, one of the world’s most beautiful places. Its many islands are inhabited by some of the most beautiful people humankind has to offer.
Long ago, the outside world’s image of a Fijian didn’t go much beyond a ferocious warrior with a bloodied club. Today, however, those who have visited Fiji know Fijians as a people who seem to be a step ahead of most others when it comes to smiles and hospitality. No matter where you travel in Fiji, for example, one is greeted by waves and shouts of ‘bula’ (hello). Children in every village take time during breaks from their barefoot rugby games to wave. Old people don’t seem, well, old.
The story here is not just that the stars of Fiji performed their rugby brilliance upon our soil this weekend. In addition to that, we also were fortunate to have felt the presence of such people as these and had the chance to see a class act so rare in all of sports.
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