Live blog: Wellington Sevens, day two

All the colour of the Sevens, minute-by-minute

BY MICHAEL FOX

Stuff.co.nz's Michael Fox is at Westpac Stadium covering all the costumes, the colour and the action of the NZI Wellington Sevens.

9:38pm: So concludes the NZI Sevens for 2009.

Hard luck to the New Zealand team who played out of their skins.

It was certainly a spectacle and lived up to its reputation as a hell of a party. The costumes, the crowd and the footy were stunning.

No doubt much of the crowd is off to the street party on Courtenay Place which is sure to be a good time.

Thanks for reading. I'm out of here.

9:30pm:  Disaster. England have scored and converted on full time to take the Wellington crown.
 
England 19 New Zealand 17.
 
The crowd are already streaming for the exits.

9:26pm: Still 17-12 to New Zealand. Both teams are a man down after a small fight was blown out of proportion by the ref.

9:18pm: Bad news. England's Robert Vickerman scores a converted try under the posts. NZ 17 England 12.

9:15pm: English captain Oliver Phillips shows tremendous pace to put England on the board. NZ leads 17 to 5.
 
The crowd are on their feet again as the music starts at half time.

9:13pm: Its one way traffic at the moment as New Zealand scores again. Converted, 17 nothing.

9:11pm: Zar Lawrence dots down after some great work by Waqaseduadua and Raikabula. NZ up 10-0. Crowd singing to h' Dudes classic "Bliss".

9:08pm: A desperate tackle saves an England try. "Defence" the crowd chants. As Titch said, it wins tournaments and it's worked for them so far today.

9:05pm: The stadium erupts as Paul Grant opens the account for New Zealand. Conversion unsuccessful. 5 nil NZ.

9:00pm: New Zealand and England have taken the field working the crowd into a frenzy. The fireworks at either end of the field helped set the mood though the smoke is taking a while to clear. Underway.

8:45pm: The concourse is relatively quiet with most people appearing to be in their seats. The police are giving some young guys a few words of advice though it looks to be all in fun.

There's a mime hanging around outside looking the worse for wear - I'll bet that pleases a few people to hear that. Why do people hate mimes?

One guy just stopped me to tell me how much he likes Stuff.co.nz so big ups to him.

Others outside are playing limbo - and going pretty low. The live entertainment outside is over after being a highlight for many and a girl is getting rid of her lunch and dinner in a box.

The Average Moes Dodgeball team are having a group hug and another just told me he had to battle through his first few beers this morning after last night. He looks like he's winning though.

A few people are roaming the concourse and look like zombie extras for Dawn of the Dead.  The stadium is still going off as they count down to kick off.

Jordan Luck treated the crowd to a live rendition of "Why Does Love Do This To Me."

8:30pm: The stadium is looking pretty chocka as the final fast approaches. The atmosphere is as festive as it has been all weekend.

Tonga and the Cook Islanders got their medals and Bowl trophy respectively and the NZI dancers continue to impress. The teams are doing laps of the stadium and thanking the crowd as they bow out.

A techno number is the current DJ pick and the crowd is into it. They're on their feet and clapping the Cook Islanders.

The Niuen haka as gone down a treat - expect a few from the New Zealanders tonight. More than a few if they win.

8:15pm: It's starting to look a little more like carnage in the crowd now and a lot of people are showing the effects of a long two days of partying.

.hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana } That said, "Hey Baby" has the crowd up and dancing and singing along. Everyone thinks they can sing after they've had a few. It's hard not to enjoy the sound of a stadium singing at the top of its lungs.

8:00pm: The tournament organisers have been running a talent competition today with a Bon Jovi singer taking it out. He's entertaining the crowd with Living on a Prayer.

They also informed me earlier they are running a competition were people can use their mobiles to vote for the best costume, among other categories - it will be interesting to see how that pans out - there are some good'uns.

7:45pm: The parade was a sight to behold with dancers, confetti, a smoke machine and of course the stilt walkers. The ball boys had the unfortunate task of clearing the confetti straight after it was released.

Afterwards, I saw the stilt walkers sit down and take their stilts off earlier - it's a pretty interesting exercise to behold.

They came inside after the parade and a few talked about the adrenalin rush of the performance. I don't blame them - they were a pretty long way up.

Later, they lined up to receive their pay while a lady sat at a table and counted it out - I didn't know they could still pay people that way.

I've seen two people evicted by the police. One tried to plead his case but they wouldn't have a bar of it.

7:20pm: Argentina score a try right on the final whistle but it's New Zealand who have come out winners after a tight second half. 10-7 the final score and the Kiwis are in the final against England at 9pm!

7:14pm: The crowd gets excited about the colonel again.

7:10pm: The first half is over. NZ lead 10-0 and Argentina are down a man after a sin-binning.

7:07pm: Zar Lawrence opens the scoring for NZ - the crowd goes wild. Nafi Tuitavake scores minutes later to make it 10-0 early on. Meanwhile, Glen Osbourne presents a cheque to a lady on the sideline - not sure why - no one seems to care.

7:02pm: The NZ and Argentina run onto the field to a huge roar for their Cup semifinal. Good luck fellas! They looked good against South Africa earlier.

6:55pm: One guy is out there wearing a hula hoop with a shower curtain hanging off it which definitely gets my vote for originality.

The lady doing "Queue analysis" tells me the queues were up to 15 minutes long yesterday. Se said while the queues today are the same size they appear to be getting through them faster.

Other notable costumes include a she-devil being accompanied by two male angels and a policeman dragging along four chained female prisoners.

Another guy is wearing a "They tried to make me go to Rehab" t-shirt and is wandering around with a beer in his hand. At least he's honest with himself.

The party outside is still going off. The DJ asked if anybody was actually there to watch the rugby to which he received a resounding negative from the dancers.

The Doctours and Atom Ants were forming human pyramids a short time ago.

6:45pm: The crowd is right into Billy Idol's hit song Money and, as usual, are improvising the words.

England up 12-0 over Kenya.

6:30pm: It seems like the organisers might have heeded calls for more music as there seems to have been a bit more today and the crowd certainly looks like they appreciate it.
 
Some funny looking baloons are now blowing around as Kenya and the Poms, both still in the main draw, start their warm up.
 
The cheerleaders look as though they are preparing for a number too. Cancel that, they are trying to start a Mexican wave. The crowd have so far failed to respond.

6:03pm: The air fresheners and bikini boys are having their own party on the concourse - dancing to no music at all.

Two of the doctors taking a breather outside are trying to convince a young lady they are the 'Real McCoy'. She's had a few but I don't think she's falling for it.

As if the booze isn't going down well enough already, there's a few funnels going down on the concourse. The pink bats guys are still pulling hugs and the 'I fobs' are all class.

5:52pm: It's pretty impressive to be roaming the stadium for the second day and still be seeing new costumes. I suppose you would hope so with 35,000 people said to be here!

I just spotted the big bad wolf. Little Red Riding Hood's upstairs he tells me.

5:45pm: A group of army folk are running around screaming for a medic. I think one of their platoon might be down.

A caveman is playing elastics with some gym bunnies.

There are big green bins set up around the concourse with one hole for recycling and the other for waste. The organisers' hearts are in the right place, but their efforts might be wasted today. But to prove me wrong a guy in a bikini and sarong just leaned past me and put his bottle in the recycling!

Now him and his mates are trying to give people piggy backs.

Cook Islands beat Australia!

5:39pm: The smell coming out of one of the men's toilets is rank! A lady beside me said: "Gee, that's wiffy!" but in not so polite terms...

The Cook Islanders are cleaning up the Aussies. 21-10 at present.

5:35pm: A mum just walked past me carrying her young son. For some reason, I'm not sure why, I forgot this was a family event.

Now it's the power rangers' turn to try and kick off the wave - again, no luck.

The bar queues are as long as ever. To be honest I don't know if yesterday's surcharges made a lot of difference.

5:25pm: Finding wally is no longer much fun. He is everywhere.

A group of male netballers, complete with tight-fitting dresses, are trying in vain to kick-start a mexican wave. They quickly forget about it when crocodile rock starts playing.

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing I might be in the red zone. Like the colonel says - it's the red zone for a reason.

The Aussies are roundly boo'd for dotting down against the Cooks - they're up 5-0.

5:14pm: Tonga are up 12-5 over France. A group of ladies have singlets with their aisle and seat numbers printed on the back. Genius. 

A group of guys with foam wrapped around themselves are taking swings at each other - all in good spirit though! I'm not sure if they'd feel it even without the padding!

The atmosphere is really humming now, carrying on from a good day yesterday.

5:09pm: You shouldn't let having two bandaged feet stop you having a good time, right? Who needs good feet when you've got crutches?

The good-looking girls from the big screen are now roaming beneath the stands and yeah, they're pretty good looking.

Grease has shown it is truly timeless with people in Rydell High school uniforms. Tom Cruise from Cocktail is also in the house.

5:03pm: A couple of ladies with long pink scarves look like they have been struggling a bit with the wind. Someone should have warned them about Wellington.

4:58pm: The TV cameras found a bunch of good-looking girls dandign to Abba and a group of guys have jumped in the frame. You've got to love the Sevens.

They should be playing more music.

4:50pm: I don't want to be cheeky as they're not far away from where I am, but our experts' picks appear to have been duds. Two picked Fiji and one picked South Africa to win the tournament. Both are now out after losing to England and New Zealand respectively.
 
However, Sumo picked New Zealand who are well and truly in the running still after their gutsy win earlier. Full credit.

The Colonel chant has erupted again though its only the second time I have heard it.

Scotland and Canada are playing with the Scots ahead.

4:38pm: It might be just me, but I'm sure there's less clothing here today.

It must be so tough to come up with original Sevens costumes. Every costume you can think of - and plenty you never would - is represented here.

Quite impressively, this girl's entire dress is made out of cards.

I just spotted the Hamburglar, so hang on to your McDonalds everyone.

A haka has just broken out on the concourse.

4:28pm: Parts of the concourse are packed to the brim. On the whole, people are holding up pretty well after yesterday.

Banning whistles next year would be good for everyone's hearing.

Ole ole ole ole! If only I was boozed enough to join in.

4:21pm: Man it's hot outside. And it's packed now. One guy has his sheep costume half off as the heat takes it's toll. The breeze pops up every now and then, which helps.

4:15pm: Blanket Man is in the house - or at least 19-year-old Taylor Dewis doing a good rendition of the local hobo.

The Sevens is "bloody awesome," Taylor reckons. He's here with some Oompa Loompas.

An obstacle course race has just happened on the grounds.

4:09pm: It's Bon Jovi time. The music is live and the guy singing has a great set of pipes. And a terrible wig.

4:04pm: Lote Raikabula's try sends the crowd into a frenzy!

Great try. The crowd are on their feet stamping to the music.

New Zealand have won and it's taken them through to the semis. What a match!

3:54pm: The Mexican wave is rolling its way around the stadium as the crowd looks in good spirits. New Zealand are playing out of their skins.

Nil-all at the half. Tense.

3:46pm: "Kiwis!" is being chanted around the ground. The defence is brutal and the crowd are right behind New Zealand.

What a game!

Ray Warren's voice twin is still going strong in the commentary box.

3:44pm: The crowd is getting behind the home team as they take on South Africa, chanting to fire them up.

Titch looks on tensely from the sidelines. Good news: inspirational captain DJ Forbes is playing.

3:19pm: Scrabble pieces are roaming the stadium - seriously academic for the Sevens.

Fiji are out after losing to England.

2:52pm: I bumped into Frank-N-Furter again and he's still looking the part. He tells me the highlights have been his reunion with some guys who come every year dressed as Kiss, and his time in the NZI VIP area where former All Black Glen Osbourne and former Tall Black Brendon Pongia were playing host yesterday. Good times. Once we'd spoken he made it about two metres before he was asked for another photo.

Meanwhile, the seats are filling up fast.

I had a quick yarn to the boys in blue and they seem to be enjoying themselves. There were about eight of them in a group so I'd advise everyone to behave themselves if they see that lot comng.

The Vatican must be empty as the Pope and a heap of nuns are at the sevens. I'm not sure what the Bible says in these particular circumstances. A heap of people are at the gates waiting to get in and dodgeball is still popular.

The costumes appear in remarkably good nick today. Napisan must make a killing off Sevens weekend.

Mark Davies, dressed as an Indian, is waiting for his mates and says it's a different atmosphere when you're by yourself. He's hoping they turn up soon. He's scored himself lounge tickets and he's stoked.

A guy next to me just said he's having his first smoke in six weeks. Six weeks of what I presume was hard work down the gurgler.

I've seen a few Hansel and Gretel pairings around today.

More dangerously, Captain Hook just about took my eye out.

Air NZ models are giving away bead necklaces in return for a kiss. I'm told there's a dodgy history behind this. If anyone knows the story, let me know. The beads are everywhere.

It is sweltering hot in the stands when the sun's out from the clouds. The crowd are absolutely loving the NZI dancers who are doing a stunning job.

1:59pm: The seats are starting to fill as the more eager, brave, sober rugby fans begin to file in.

1:16pm: The action - well, the rugby at least - is underway again.

Tonga are leading Niue seven zip. It looks mighty hot out there.

1:04pm: Just an update for those who weren't aware, New Zealand playmaker Tomasi Cama copped a one match ban for striking a Welshman during their opening loss but only missed the game against Niue. He played against Aussie last night and will feature again today.

Good news for New Zealand and the fans.

I just saw a few blokes pushing an old Mercedes painted up in NZI colours outside. It has either completely conked out or doesn't have a reverse gear. They're now using it to dish out miniature rugby balls. I nabbed one for a memento.

Also, big ups to the Black Caps for their win over the Australians last night. Good to see.

NZ two from two v the Ockers over night. Proud day.

Niue and Tonga look to be first up today. Both are warming up, as is the referee. At least, I assume he's the referee. He's not the biggest guy down there.

It's a wonder these guys have anything left in the tank when they take the field. The warmups are pretty intense.

12:52pm: A string of upsets yesterday - including Wales beating New Zealand, USA beating Fiji and Kenya beating South Africa - led to a points count back to determine the placings for the main draw today.

This is how the top teams are placed:

Kenya topped Pool A by virtue of beating South Africa. South Africa advance in second place.

NZ managed to grab top place in Pool B on the back of their two late wins. Wales were the other team to go through.

Despite losing to the USA at the start of the day Fiji finished first in Pool C and the USA got through to the main draw as runner-up.

Argentina beat out England for the top of Pool D.

However the Kenyans' success means New Zealand plays South Africa in the quarter final today.

Captain DJ Forbes sat out the win over Australia yesterday with an injury and they will be hoping he is back.

Quarterfinal draw:  Kenya v Wales; Fiji v England; Argentina v USA; New Zealand v South Africa.

Predictions from commentators Tony Johnson, Willie Lose, Ken Laban and Scotty "Sumo" Stevenson for the quarter finals and the eventual winner:

Sumo:

Wales to beat Kenya
Fiji to beat England
Argentina to beat USA
New Zealand to beat South Africa

Winner: New Zealand

TJ:

Kenya to beat Wales
Fiji to beat England
USA to beat Argentina
South Africa to beat New Zealand

Winner: Fiji

Willie Lose:

Wales to beat Kenya
Fiji to beat England
USA to beat Argentina
South Africa to beat New Zealand

Winner: Fiji

Ken Laban:

Kenya to beat Wales
Fiji to beat England
Argentina to beat USA
South Africa to beat New Zealand

Winner: South Africa

12:38pm: Welcome back to day two of the NZI Sevens in Wellington. I'm expecting some sore heads and strange looking tan lines today, and possibly a more subdued crowd to begin with but that's sure not to last.

The removal of the surcharges today is sure to help in that regard.

The city was slowly starting to come to life around 9 this morning, with people on their way back from the local bottle stores, out for breakfast or sneaking home after a big night.

One guy's facepaint looked suspiciously like it was left over from yesterday.

A couple of quick visits to some the houses of some friends who enjoyed the festivities last night showed some sore heads and pretty jaded party-goers. One of them even managed to fall out of a tree he thought it was a good idea to climb. One of those good ideas people tend to have after a few too many.

By all accounts the party in Wellington went on till the early hours of this morning.

The crowd was awesome yesterday. The vibe was relaxed and everyone looked to be having a great time - I saw just one guy trying to pick a fight but everyone ignored him.

A bit more music wouldn't go astray as that's what everyone appears to enjoy. Let's hope for a bit more involvement from the DJ today.

At first glance the stadium looks to be pretty clean and after last night's mess that's a good feat so big ups to the cleaning crew.

I walked in to the sound of yet more ABBA. I assume they still get royalties and if so they'll be creaming it. The teams are starting to arrive and mingle out on the field.

The crowd is starting to trickle through the gates too.

The sun is shining though it's windy and there are clouds about.

A word of advice - I walked past a pretty serious sounding pep talk amongst the security guards so it might pay not to push it with them today.

To respond to some of the comments on yesterday's blog: you can see Frank-N-Furter in the image gallery; I already hugged the Pink Batts man - he wouldn't take no for an answer; I did spot Tal and the crew as Clockwork Orange, I'll work on a photo for you; to NoZ - I'll be here till the bitter end tonight; there's a photo of Thomas the Tank Engine in the Image Gallery; and no comment on my middle name.

To those reading from overseas, bummer you can't be here but I hope you're enjoying yourselves.

Thanks for reading.