Fijian superstar the main attraction at the Kinsale Sevens
“The infrastructure’s in place,” Kett said following a last-minute inspection of the Kinsale RFC venue. “The pitches are in good shape, we’ve 82 teams coming in and we’re turning teams away now. We’re very pleased.”
And so he should be. This is the 15th year of this unique tournament and Kett believes it is the biggest and best yet, and possessing perfect timing at the end of Irish rugby’s most successful season in the professional age.
“The fact that Irish rugby is on such a crest of a wave right now is great for us, and backed up particularly by the passion of Munster. It’s an extraordinary story and the fact we’re located in Munster adds a particular panache to the event. If you hear Munster mentioned in rugby circles anywhere in the world it represents something
special.”
It is the international dimension to this event, though, and it’s increasing quality that makes the Heineken Kinsale Sevens so special. And it’s not just the presence of Fijian sevens superstar Waisale Serevi as the headline act that makes it such a respected tournament, it’s the strength in depth of the rest of the bill, Kett says.
“The standard of rugby has gone up measurably. We’ve hit another level this year, even over last year’s highs. In the blue riband event, the senior men’s, half of the teams have international players at either sevens or the full game.
“Serevi will be playing with the South Seas Drifters but he’s one of three Fijian internationals in their side; we’ve an interesting invitational Samurai side coached by Young Munster’s Roly Williams featuring international sevens players from Australia, Zimbabwe, Ireland and England.
“They won it last year with a mainly Fijian side but they’ve changed tack this time around.
“Then there’s a strong O2 Gladiators side from Limerick, a strong Marauders invitational side from England, a St Mary’s College side from Dublin travelling under the name of Paddy Powers’ Punters and Suzie’s
Exiles from Amsterdam, who have two Kiwis and an Australian and who I think will be a surprise package.”
Kett believes the senior men’s section will be rivalled for quality with the women’s event this year.
“The women’s standard this year is, I think, the best ever, with about six of the sides fielding internationals and Highfield will face a strong challenge to hang on to their title,” he said “TMR are a very organised outfit and I was talking to Susy Beinstock from their club and asking how things were going and she said to me: ‘We’re okay, we’re just waiting for the snow to melt so we can start training outside’.
“It made me think, we’ve got Canadians coming in from the snow of Montreal and the Fijians flying in from the South Pacific only Serevi is European based. That’s fantastic and, I think, a measure of the how far the reputation of the Kinsale Sevens event has travelled in rugby.”
So what is it that makes the Kinsale Sevens such a draw?
“It’s close to the roots of rugby and mighty craic,” Kett said. “It started out 15 years ago as a fun event at the end of the season for people to come along and socialise and enjoy rugby which emphasises skill rather than front five rugby.
“Then there’s the backdrop of Kinsale itself, especially from where we are located. Looking out from pitches three, four and five you see the harbour, the Old Head, all the headlands down west; go down to pitch two and you’re looking back to Oysterhaven Creek. That kind of scenery really draws people here and makes a great backdrop to all the rugby and camaraderie that goes on here.
“As for the rugby, we’ve got a big junior men’s section which attracts clubs on end-of-season tours. They come along for a bit of craic and there are quite a few characters among them. They play hard rugby, they love to win, the prizes are good, but when you’ve got 900 to a 1,000 people coming to play rugby let alone the spectators, that creates its own dynamic.
There’s no other event in Europe quite like it. In fact, I’m not sure there’s anywhere else in the world where you’ll find 82 teams from 10 countries across three
continents participating.”
The Heineken Kinsale Sevens starts tomorrow with finals day on Sunday.
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