March 26, 2008

Brake’s diary from Hong Kong

John Brake (Northampton Saints) gives his diary entry from the England Sevens camp ahead of this weekend’s Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong tournament.

We arrived late Sunday (23) afternoon and headed straight to the pool for a session to stretch out from the long flight. We then had some dinner and had an early night ready for the first full day.

Monday we got up early and went training, our training ground is about 20 minutes from where we are staying - we either jump on the team bus or ride on the Star Ferry.

After training we came back to the hotel and had some free time so I went for a wonder to the local market with Anthony Elliott (Bristol Rugby) and Chris Mayor (Sale Sharks). The markets here sell all sorts of goods from clothing to electricals, I bought some trainers which were a really good price and a watch, Chris bought a camera and Anthony got a handbag for his girlfriend. We were all quite tired from the early start so we didn’t stay out too late we were back at the hotel and in bed by 11pm.

Tuesday we had a friendly match against Wales to give us a good run out and to give the younger guys a taste of what’s to come at the weekend. In the evening we all went out for a Thai meal, I sat next to the two Ben’s, Gollings (Sunnybank) and Ryan. We shared lots of different things like fishcakes, duck rolls, satay chicken and Thai green curry whilst playing games like top ten – which is where you have to guess the top ten of a certain subject, like the top ten Nicolas Cage movies etc..

Today (Wednesday) was another early start, we were up and down to breakfast by 7.45am and on the team bus by 8.30am ready to go to training, we were going to take the ferry today but decided not to as it was raining – which is a shame as when we first arrived it was sunny.

We had another two friendly matches against New Zealand and Australia, which again is great practice for us. We got absolutely soaked, the pitch was flooded so we got really muddy - my boots are still wet, I will have to dry them with the hairdryer!

After that we went off for a lunch with the St Georges Hong Kong Society (which is a lunch that is arranged every year), I was sat with a guy who I played against when I was at school and he is now living out here – small world!

I’m back in the hotel now just chilling out before dinner and thinking about Friday, we’re all so excited, I can’t wait, it’s going to be an occasion to remember.

See you soon

John

Follow England Sevens, go to www.londonsevens.co.uk

Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens Pool fixtures:

March 28 – England v Canada, KO 8:38pm (local time, GMT+8)
March 29 – England v Sri Lanka, KO 11:58am (local time, GMT+8)
March 29 – Samoa v England, KO 6:34pm (local time, GMT+8)

Ends