Rugby tourney dubbed the ‘Fijian Sevens’ in city

Thousands of people flocked to Hamilton to watch the Sevens but it was the Fijian supporters who made the biggest impact in the crowd.

Waikato’s FMG Stadium was a sea of blue all weekend and as soon as Fiji hit the pitch yesterday the energy instantly shifted.

Fans dressed head-to-toe in blue flocked to the side of the pitch with flags up and drums on the go.

‘‘Go Fiji, go’’ reverberated around the stadium.

Rowan Coutzer, Dani Coutzer, Tiko Bukhrashvili and Wayde Worthington said this was the first Sevens they had attended and the Fijian fans added to the experience.

They described the crowd as ‘‘electric’’. ‘‘It feels like the Fijian Sevens.’’

A shock loss to Argentina derailed Fiji’s hopes of a win, with fan Kevin Outerbridge describing the loss as a ‘‘disaster’’ before heading home.

He said the Fijian supporters made up a large chunk of the crowd and it’d be a different story if they weren’t there.

‘‘It’d be empty, you’d have 10 people.’’

Sunil Kumal said this was the second time his family had been to the Hamilton Sevens and the number of Fijian supporters came down to one thing. ‘‘We support our team.’’

About 18,000 people attended the event on Saturday but yesterday was slow to start, with the crowd picking up early in the afternoon.

Lifeguards and tennis players were popular costume ideas and could be seen dotted around the stadium, with most fans opting for spots in the shade as the temperature crept up to 30 degrees.

James Perry, Jess Laurie, Tessa Jelaca and Emma Segedin went local with their costume inspiration and dressed up as Balloons over Waikato.

On Saturday, NZ Rugby Chief Rugby officer Nigel Cass announced plans to take the Sevens to Fiji in 2021 had been postponed. A lack of suitable infrastructure had ruled Fiji out for the next year, he said, but the desire was strong to take the tournament there in 2023.

Police said on Saturday night there were six arrests in Hamilton but there were no serious incidents. The tournament will move away from Hamilton to another New Zealand city for 2021.