International Sevens teams enjoy Hamilton's best ahead of tournament – Stuff

It is the third time for Canadian Sevens Rubgy player Josiah Morra on aSevens tour in Hamilton, and he still can’t get over the meat pies.
“I love Hamilton, been here a couple of times already for rugby tournaments.
"The atmosphere is great. It is always a proud feeling to play in one of the top rugby nations in the world… it is something I always dreamed about.
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“People are really kind here, and I love the meat pies here… I always look forward to the pies when I come down here.”
It was Morra’s first time visiting Hamilton Zoo, and he was particularly excited to see the tiger.
New Zealand’s sporting party is returning to Hamilton this year after a two-year Covid-19 hiatus.
The HSBC New Zealand Sevens will be held at FMG Stadium Waikato on January 21 and 22, and for the many international teams visiting Hamilton for the tournament, Wednesday was packed with community engagements.
While the Canadian Men’s team was busy touring Hamilton Zoo alongside Hamilton’s Graeme Dingle Foundation, the Brazil and Great Britain Women’s teams were out and about interacting with kids at a school holiday programme.
The recently opened Pasifika Fale was occupied by Fiji Men and Women.
Spain Men and USA Women had a tough lawn bowling tournament at Awatere Retirement Village in the afternoon.
At the same time, Australian Men and Women teams were engaging with the community at the Hamilton City Library Smart Space.
For D’Shawn Bowen from Canada, he was “just happy that it wasn’t raining in Hamilton like it was back home”.
USA Women’s player Cheta Emba was in Hamilton during the last tour before pandemic and said it felt great to be back.
Some of the girls had plans of heading to Raglan on Thursday, which Emba had already been to and loved. She was more excited to go fly-fishing instead and explore the nature side of the country.
“I am excited to get into the nature. I am a bit of an outdoorsy person, so I am really glad to have the chance to do this.
“We are going to Australia soon after the game here, but it would have been nice to get some extra days in New Zealand to explore.”
USA Women’s first match was on Saturday against Spain, but they initiated the competition with Spain Men’s team with a game of lawn bowls.
Both the teams had never played the game before and the coaches at Awatere Retirement Village did not go easy on them.
Village resident Christ Voogh was seeing a rugby team up close for the first time and was very excited.
“Coming from an All Blacks country, we enjoy rugby very much.”
Paco Cosculleula from Spain said the team enjoyed their time at Rotorua on Tuesday.
“We had a bath in one of the lakes and cruised along in the town. We then went to Manganui beach and saw some amazing views.
“We are having fun, enjoyed it so far and hope to do our best in the tournament.”
“It is so different from Europe and I would love to come back here to travel.”
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