Making sure it all sounds right is no walk in the park for Lea

When most people think of the sounds of the Sevens, they think of the roar of the crowd and the music. But there's more to the sounds of Sevens than meets the eye .... or ear.

'It's my job to make sure all of the entertainment systems in the stadium are effective,' says Dean Lea, who oversees the entertainment sound programme. 'That includes all the announcer sounds you hear and the sound coming from the various trucks for the television sound also.

'As my job is the technical audio we make sure all goes smoothly with the technical audio and entertainment programme output, such as the sound for [yesterday's] rock 'n' roll show.'

'My offsider, Nigel Self, put a pedometer on last year and realised that from the Wednesday until the Sunday he tallied up 46km moving around the stadium.'

Long and winding road

Distance travelled by sound man Nigel Self around the stadium at last year's Sevens: 46km