Hong Kong Sevens: Australia’s stunning upset of favourites Fiji chimes with year of change

If it was a slightly strange sight seeing fireworks light up the So Kon Po skyline after three-and-a-half years away on Sunday evening, it was even stranger seeing Australia lift the 2022 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens title.

Fiji have reigned supreme here for the best part of a decade, and were chasing a record-extending sixth straight title at Hong Kong Stadium.

But a dramatic try from Nathan Lawson in the dying seconds ripped up the record books. It gave Australia a 20-17 win in a match in which they had trailed 17-5 in the second half, with Fiji on course for another procession.

The Wallabies players were in tears on the pitch, and no wonder – this was their first title since 1988, having made it to their first final in 28 years.

“It’s quite surreal to win here,” Australia coach John Manenti said.

“We had to fight. We lost against Samoa on day one, and on day two we fought hard and beat the Kiwis, and we had to fight to beat the French. I felt it was a free crack at the Fijians, that we’ll just have our shot here and see what happens.

“All of a sudden we were in the game. It was really special. Last year we won the World Series, but a lot of people said it was on the back of teams not being here and Covid-19, but we’ve been fighting really hard.

“We’ve made some history.”

Fiji’s players sank to the turf after their defeat. Hong Kong Stadium is their Mecca, and almost the whole population tunes in whenever they play here.

It was disappointment for the World Cup winners of two months ago, but head coach Ben Gollings was not too downcast.

Local legend bids Hong Kong Sevens farewell as hosts show shape of things to come

“We let Australia back into it,” he said. “They’re a fighting side, but we had a lack of clarity there in the end. That’s sevens, it’s brilliantly cruel. We learn a lesson from it.

“For us, it’s good we’re in a final. It’s consistent but we want to be winning these. That was a gift. The players played well. We just really did give it away at the end there.”

Perhaps change was in the air on Sunday.

That feeling was epitomised when Hong Kong’s star player Max Denmark swung by the South Stand on Sunday afternoon, giving fans high-fives in a symbolic gesture – that the connection between athletes and public here has finally been restored.

Later on, the Post bumped into Hong Kong fly half Russell Webb, as he headed to the West Stand concourse looking to celebrate with loved ones.

He had earned it, after putting in a man-of-the-match performance against Japan, scoring two tries and a conversion in the second half as he almost beat them single-handedly.

“I’m going to spend time with my family now that the so-called bubble has burst,” he said, smiling. “I’m going to enjoy it – but not too much, because we are off to Korea next week.”

Dressed in casual training gear, there was a sense he could finally let his hair down, like the rest of us.

“It genuinely feels like Hong Kong is back,” Webb said. “I played three years ago, and today was about 7o per cent full. But you couldn’t tell. It was so loud in the tunnel.”

There were smiles on the faces, too, of fans filling the concourses, catching up over a beer or two, and of five-year-old ball carrier Archie Thaddeus Wong, who charged onto the pitch before the first final of the evening between Uruguay and Japan, receiving one of the biggest cheers of the weekend.

Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman’s Time to Say Goodbye echoed out at the stadium as the crowd of roughly 21,000 filed out into the night, still cheering and celebrating.

But it will not be a goodbye for long – April looms, and the hope is that Hong Kong can welcome the world.