[(IRB.COM) Thursday 27 March 2008] ĄG
Samoa's captain Uale Mai will become the most capped IRB Sevens World Series player of all time when he leads his countrymen out for their opening match at the Hong Kong Stadium on Friday night.
The diminutive playmaker will be playing in his 51st Series event, eclipsing the record currently held jointly with former New Zealand scrum half Amasio Valence Raoma.
Mai's 50 events have so far yielded 921 points, the fourth highest figure of all time behind only England's Ben Gollings, Fijian great Waisale Serevi and Valence Raoma himself. He is also just six short of scoring 100 tries.
While Samoa also line up with other matchwinners in Mikaele Pesamino and Lolo Lui, it is New Zealand and Fiji who start as favourites in Hong Kong.
Gordon Tietjens' New Zealand side has won 36 consecutive matches, a winning streak which has seen them capture six titles on the bounce to first win back the series crown at the death last year and then take the firmest of grips on this year's title defence. The Hong Kong crown, however, has eluded Tietjens since 2001.
Kiwis out to win first HK title since 2001
"There's a real hunger in the side to win here this year. We've played very well but Hong Kong is completely different because of its prestige and quite a few of the teams have strengthened, notably Fiji with William Ryder," said Tietjens.
"Of my players, none of them have won Hong Kong so that's the real driving challenge for them. Winning Hong Kong would mean everything to us and it would just about complete the World Series defence."
Fiji are certain to provide the kiwis with a stern test in Hong Kong. In the returning William Ryder and Lepani Nabuliwaqa they have two match winners, while Mosese Volavola, Nasoni Roko and captain Marika Vunibaka provide experience.
South Africa currently lie second in the overall standings after running the kiwis close in San Diego in February. The Boks are the most experienced squad in Hong Kong with 159 events between the 12 players - one ahead of Kenya with a combined 158 - but their over-reliance on the outstanding Fabian Juries could hinder their challenge.
Ahead of their home event in Adelaide next weekend, Australia have former Wallaby David Campese on board as assistant coach and hand debuts to promising youngster James O'Connor and exciting dual code test veteran Andrew Walker, while the ever impressive Tongans count Rugby World Cup skipper Nili Latu in their squad.
Of the northern hemisphere sides the consistent Scots look best placed to challenge. Ben Addison returns to a side which is one of only three not to include a single Sevens debutant (Portugal and Zimbabwe are the others) and their pool draw looks favourable alongside Kenya, Portugal and China. England famously won four consecutive Hong Kong titles between 2002 and 2006 but besides the vastly experienced Gollings their squad is largely made up of academy players and members of this year's Grand Slam winning Under 20 side and could ultimately suffer from a lack of experience.
Seeing double
Often in the past brothers have played side by side on the Sevens series, most notably all time leading try scorer Santiago Gomez Cora and brother Pablo, but surely never before have there been four sets of twins competing for the same title.
David and Diogo Mateus are two of Portugal's five Rugby World Cup players competing in Hong Kong and Robert and James Lewis will also line up together for Wales.
For Japan Kenichi and Shinichi Yokoyama both make their sevens debuts, while New Zealand's Edwin Cocker could face the prospect of playing against his twin brother John, who lines up alongside World Cup captain Nili Latu for their native Tonga.
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