DUBAI // The sight of Waisale Serevi, Josh Lewsey, Andy Farrell, Rico Gear and a cast of other former greats charging around the outside fields at The Sevens gives spectators plenty of scope to reminisce.
And not just the spectators. Serevi, who still gets stopped for more photographs than anyone else, is 47 now. But he cannot let the glory days go.
The former Fiji captain and coach is back for a second shot at the International Vets trophy with J9 Legends.
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He has special incentive to do well. Firstly, he wants to succeed on behalf of Joost van der Westhuizen, the former South Africa player who is stricken by motor neuron disease.
Two years ago, they were beaten in the final here by a final play score by Xodus Steelers.
After, Serevi pushed the wheelchair-bound Van der Westhuizen through a guard of honour of former Test players on Pitch 1, while the packed crowd stood and applauded. It is a stirring memory, but it left Serevi with unfinished business.
“We lost in the final, and for all three days I was pushing Joost around in his wheelchair,” he said, after J9’s quarter-final win over the Bulldogs on Friday.
“He was talking to me slowly saying: ‘Serevi, you have to win. You have to win.’ That keeps ringing in my ear. I wanted to come back and do this for him this year.
“Joost is not in a good situation now. The doctors have said this may be the last Christmas for him. It has really touched me, and I keep telling the boys, ‘We have to win. We have to win.’ We want to do this for Joost.”
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Van der Westhuizen was unable to travel for this weekend, but has monitored his side’s progress via iTracker. He has been providing advice on what their gameplan should be, too.
So far so good. They are into a semi-final against Joining Jack, with no tries conceded in four matches to date.
There is a second factor fuelling Serevi’s need to put on a show. It is difficult to imagine sevens being the international extravaganza it is today without the impact made by two players in its early years: Serevi and Jonah Lomu.
The anguish of Lomu’s death last month was keenly felt by his former counterpart, who vividly recalls their first meeting.
“The night before the tournament, there was a knock on my door,” Serevi recalls of the 1994 Hong Kong Sevens, which announced Lomu on rugby’s world stage.
“A Fijian player said there was a new rugby player who wanted to see me. I asked his name. Jonah Lomu.
“I said, ‘Hey, Jonah, come in.’ We ate biscuits from Fiji. We were drinking tea together and I just said to him, ‘Jonah, tomorrow, make sure you make the most of it. Play as hard as you can, enjoy it and have fun.’
“Maybe I told him the wrong thing.”
Even the great Serevi was unable to avoid the fate which befell so many international players thereafter.
“The next day he was killing everyone,” he said. “We played the final, Fiji against New Zealand, and Jonah was in front of me.
“The first ball he took, I knew the Fiji defence was always good. He came from the side and, boom, the two defenders flew away.
“He was running straight at me and in my mind I thought, ‘Er, Jonah – what about the biscuits? The tea? I was the one who did that for you!’
“He hit me. Boom! He never slowed down for anyone. The last thing I knew, I was facing the sky. That was Jonah.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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