Sigatoka, the town situated in the Coral Coast is known as the rugby town of Fiji. You will find all the passion for rugby sevens here. Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka has been the stage for the last few years for Coral Coast Sevens. It is held in November every year and this year it was from 14th to 16th of November. The major sponsor for this tournament is Bayleys Real Estate and it is a mixture of pride and excitement to see so many great teams competing for the “Champions of the Champions” title. When it comes to the great sevens players the names first thought of usually include Waisale Serevi, Eric Rush, David Campese, Jonah Lomu and Ben Gollings.
The Bayleys Coral Coast Sevens tournament has grown dramatically from the first even in 2010, not just in the number of teams competing in both the men’s and women’s competitions, but in the international standing it has earned. We were thrilled to have Jonah Lomu, as our ambassador last year and the great man became the latest rugby sevens superstar to receive a commemorative plaque on Sigatoka Rugby Town’s Walk of Fame.
This year we had England’s best ever sevens rugby player Ben Gollings as both the tournament ambassador and to unveil his own plaque in Sigatoka. Ben was also a guest player in Waisale Serevi’s (one of Fiji’s all time best players) team last year.
There were 24 men’s and 12 women’s teams competing against the best of our local Fijian teams. It was a great day to watch three days of the best rugby sevens you will see anywhere at Fiji’s premier sevens tournament and have loads of fun. “There was certainly a sense of anticipation as these 32 teams, up from 24 last year, really wanted to win their way through to the ‘champion of champions’ at the Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens, which offered a $30,000 first prize.”
Our rainy season brought two wildly contrasting weather cycles to contend with. Day one was bright, hot and steamy but overnight a tropical thunderstorm and rain for most of day two turned the playing surface into a quagmire. Despite this the action was frenetic. Sports and particularly rugby sevens, is a great catalyst for the bringing together of families and uniting the country. We had loads of fun and also looking forward to next year’s Coral Coast Sevens