THE sport.

Friday at the 7s
Saturday at the beach
Sunday at the 7s
South Africa vs. Australia
Jojo "The Unsatisfied" Judd, Dave "The Cross"McKeown, Sam "The Bunny" Dreiman, Christoph "The Huula-Boy" Ritzke

Well, not exactly, considering the huge party that surrounds the Hong Kong 7s. This weekend was about to be one of the best ones I've had so far. Considering Rugby and Partying.

Starting on Friday, the tournament was about to last for the whole weekend. Extremely lucky students that we are, the first day was free for us, so we went to the stadium and could not believe our eyes as we approached the incredibly long line of scholars and students waiting to get in. well, we managed to overcome the time standing by chanting the old "Yogi Bear Song" and drinking Coke diluted with way too much whiskey. We eventually arrived inside and went up to the legendary "South Stand", the part of the stadium that gave home to all the funnily dressed and disguised people. I myself looked rather normal in my polo shirt beside people dressed up like playboy bunnies or country flags but still enjoyed every second of my first international, professional rugby tournament experience. The day went by and we got more and more indulged by the sec taste of cold beer. After the last game we mingled with the massive and incredibly drunk crowd towards the exit from where we went to the MTR to go to Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the day. Really, there were at least 2000 people outside on the street celebrating more the atmosphere than the sport itself. It was fantastic.

The next day was rather hungover and we decided that this weekend was one weekend lost for work and I took the bus to Repulse Bay where I met up with my friends, enjoying the sun and the amazingly refreshing and soon the hangover was forgotten and replaced by fun as we jumped of the pontoons into the water. As I always say: "The human being is doomed to not be satisfied at any point of his life!" Accordingly, Jojo and I became melancholic, regarding the fact we had missed out on buying tickets for the whole weekend and made plans on how to still get into the stadium the next day. After having thrown all stupid plans over board there was only one real solution: Buying tickets for a horrendous price. Flag it! We went to Causeway Bay to go to the stadium and purchase some illegally sold tix in the street. After half an hour travel we arrived, jumped off the bus and ran into a completely destroyed guy from New Zealand. His name was James, Jack or anything similar. He told us that he had just come from the 7s and that he was incredibly tired. The leftovers of make-up, his dirty shirt, the pungent alcohol smell and the small eyes told us that he was not lying. Poor J. only had one problem: one credit card but no cash. "What are you guys doing 'round here anyway?"he asked. "Buying tickets for tomorrow's games!" He took a position that resembled the thinker pose of old Greek statues (even though he was not really an Adonis, even though a bodybuilder) and said: "Lemme think...If you guys get me home to Soho...I'll give you tickets." We looked at each other and J. stared back like a car. Why the heck not! 3 Minutes later us 3 sat in a cab, heading for Soho. So far you think the story will lead to an happy end? Agreed. But from now on we were about to experience J.'s true nature. He started contradicting himself (yes tickets, no tickets, tickets for free, tickets for $4000 a piece) and told me to shut up which got me in a kind of awkward position. Sitting beside him and abusing his power or just throw him out in the middle of nowhere, leaving him for the crows. Jojo was the better negotiator and managed to cool J. down. When we arrived in Soho we doubted that he was actually living here but in fact he did! "Victory shall yet be ours!", I thought and we went upstairs where we entered a really nice, one-room apartment, furnished with expensive couture but messy as if someone had broken in. Amazingly, he really had tickets that he gave to us. We went back outside and couldn't believe our luck. "Let's move before he changes opinions...", I said, we went around the corner to have food at "Shake 'em Buns" and celebrated.
After our delicious meal we went to the close by street of 1000 costumes and got ourselves a straw skirt and black and white face paint, before going home and being exhausted.

The next day, my alarm woke me up at 6 am, I put on my costume, went to the bathroom and painted myself and went to the stadium, where I met the others (Jojo, Sam & Dave). The entry opened at 7.15 am and we managed to smuggle some 3 small bottles and food in. Off to the south stand! (according to Jamie (mate from my team) THE place to be). We were some of the first ones, saved good seats and Sam amazingly managed to fall asleep in one of them. After 2 1/2 hours of waiting the ranks finally filled up and the sun got so penetrating that we bought the first Jug of beer of the day. The problem of this day was that it, of course, did not last with one but several pitchers and that I, for the first time felt like Liam after a rough night: I CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED!!!! The happenings are distorted and not in order.

All in all I can say that this weekend was worth fighting for and we saw a lot of good Rugby and loads of odd creatures wandering through the stadium.

Oval greetings,

Christoph.