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The competition was fierce, but the players were fiercer. This weekend, Rugby Sevens heavyweights would stop at nothing in their bid to dominate the field.

 We refer, of course, to the investment bankers.

 It seems they've been wrestling over the spotlight.

 Event sponsor Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) managed an amazing pass to the Hong Kong rugby team as the players collected the 'bowl glory'.

 As the press moved in, players found baseball caps being pressed into their hands. The athletes donned them without thinking, then stepped into the spotlight to collect their prize.

 The cameras captured them sporting the CSFB logo on their heads.

 Not very pleasing for team sponsor Warburg Dillon Read.

 Investment bank Credit Lyonnais also had reason to cast dark looks in CSFB's direction. The French-based bank tried to advertise in the two giant 'light boxes' flanking the score board.

 At first, the Rugby and Football Union told them the spot was available.

 Then they said it wasn't.

 So it was through narrowed eyes that Credit Lyonnais staffers noticed two empty advertising spaces by the scoreboard.

 'It seems pretty obvious if it was initially available, then unavailable, then blank on the day, there was a problem,' marketing manager Angelique Marcil said.

 But the bankers weren't going down without a fight.

 They used the advertising money to make yellow and blue pom poms. These were handed out to the crowd.

 'So every time someone scored, the television cameras showed everyone waving our company colours,' Ms Marcil said.

 A Lai See investigation found that the sports union itself had decided to keep CSFB's rivals from the score boards.

 But we suspect a different theory has been travelling the corridors of Credit Lyonnais.

 Still, in today's economy, its nice to know our bankers have their eye on the ball.

Looking for a pair of girls to cavort with in your bubble bath? Searching for a restaurant where slave girls hand feed you?  Then Apple Daily's latest 'free gift' is for you.

 A Bangkok prostitute user's guide was yesterday being handed out along with the morning news.

 Cartoon beer glasses marked the locations of such fine drinking establishments as the 'Thigh Bar', 'Girlfriend Bar' and 'Pussy Galore Bar'. Photos featured Thai girls striding round bars in G-strings and swivelling around poles in lingerie.

 But it's not all down-market.

 The Apple sex safari brings you to the 'most luxurious' brothel in all of Bangkok. This boasts a 'fishbowl' - a glass-walled room filled with number-labelled women. Men window shop and pick a number.

 For those of a culinary bent, the 'No Hand Restaurant' lets diners enjoy their meals without the strain of lifting utensils. Female staff provide backrubs and feed clients by hand.

 We tried to find out if The Sun's recent entry on to the news stands had triggered some kind of sleaze war, but Apple didn't return our calls.

 Lai See also tried to contact local prostitution experts to ask their opinions of the various brothels.

 But the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong could not be reached for comment.

Now THIS is weird.

 A naked Japanese guy spent more than a year trapped in a tiny apartment eating dogfood, unaware that millions of people were watching him.

 Every Sunday for more than a year, 15 million viewers have tuned in to watch the exploits of Nasubi, a 23-year-old comedian who had been confined to the flat since January last year.

 His challenge was to eke out an existence until he won one million yen (about HK$64,374) worth of prizes in magazine competitions, The Guardian newspaper tells us. He had to live only on the prizes.

 He was told his reward would be fame, but didn't know what form it would take. Unbeknownst to him, Japan's top variety programme Susunu Denpa Shonen! (Don't Go For It Electric Boy!) has broadcast his progress with the aid of two hidden cameras.

 Poor Nasubi never won any wearable clothing, The Guardian said. To ensure a modicum of decency, NTV covered his genitals with an aubergine icon.

 The food he won consisted mainly of rice and dogfood. One programme highlight showed a delighted Nasubi heading off to the toilet after winning his first rolls of toilet paper in 10 months.

 Articles in women's magazines have noted his good health despite his cramped life and canine diet.

 Nasubi apparently had no idea that he had become a national celebrity until Sunday's show, The Guardian said.

 Without telling Nasubi that he had reached his goal, the producers led him into a 'waiting room' where he was sitting naked when the walls collapsed around him to reveal a studio full of guests.

 'Do you mean that everyone has been watching my naked body all this time?' he asked. 'That's out of order. Is it allowed?'  The comic later said that he spent his incarceration 'trapped between sanity and madness'.



You can bank on foul play at the rugby