Diary of Tui Komiti, Samoan Referee at the HSBC Sevens World Series

It is a great experience here at HSBC Sevens World Series (“SWS”), not only to meet with new friends in rugby but also to be exposed to the next level of refereeing.  I was happy with my performances in the first Tournament even though it was the first time in the HSBC SWS.  The confidence is building up as the circuit prolongs.  I have learnt some new things from the first two Tournaments and hopefully I can improve in the next Tournaments.

It is also a great experience to referee the top teams in the HSBC SWS and the lower teams in the series too.  It is much easier to referee the top teams rather than refereeing the lower teams in the HSBC SWS in terms of their style of play and patterns of play.  Also I have learned some experiences from Steve Lander (Referee Manager), Scott Young (Referee Coach), the performance reviewers from each Tournament and the experienced sevens referees from the past years.

I have been refereeing in the Gold Coast, Dubai and Port Elizabeth this week and will be refereeing in Wellington and Las Vegas early next year.

The six games I refereed in the Gold Coast were:

·                Tonga v Wales – Pool Match

·                South Africa v Japan – Pool Match

·                Wales v England – Pool Match

·                France v South Africa – Cup Quarter Final

·                France v Wales – Plate Semi Final

·                Papua New Guinea v Japan – Shield Final

The five games I refereed in Dubai were:

·                South Africa v Portugal – Pool Match

·                Fiji v UAE – Pool Match

·                Kenya v Zimbabwe – Pool Match

·                Kenya v Portugal – Bowl Quarter Final

·                Kenya v UAE – Shield Semi Final

I am looking forward to this week’s Tournament in Port Elizabeth.

Tui Komiti