My eyes were as big as soup plates. My first recollection of what proved a wonderful tournament in Argentina in 2001 has to be the hot weather, and then the sheer quantity of people.
It was summer time out there in Mar del Plata when the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens was played and the population of the coastal town had soared by five or ten times. The people of Buenos Aires had come on holiday to the beach and on the first day I saw a million people on the beach.
I took photographs because I just couldn't believe it. It was so hot that people were going into the sea to cool off, and it was so crowded once they got in there that all they could do was just stand there, they couldn't go forward, couldn't go back because there was someone in front of them.
The sights on the beach were nothing, though, compared with entering the foyer of the hotel we were staying in on the beach front and seeing all these women in swim suits.
Even with my Spanish I managed to find out that these young women were the 30 Miss Argentina contestants. And they were getting ready to march down across the street and onto the beach, where thousands of people were waiting to see them in the bikini section of the beauty contest! As we checked in, we didn't know which way to look.
A fallen hero
And the same translated to the stadium. When we got there it was pretty much full because the tournament had been well publicised and it was the same place that had hosted the 1978 Football World Cup. It held about 40,000 and on the second and third days in particular it was packed.
When I think back, even as a Kiwi who tries to remain impartial at all times, I recollect that New Zealand were thoroughly deserving winners, but they had to do it via a very significant set-back.
In the years leading up to the start of the IRB Sevens World Series two years earlier, New Zealand Sevens had been led by Eric Rush. He was very much the man out front and the whole pattern of the side was based around the thinking of the coach Gordon Tietjens and the on-field leadership of Rushie.
When they played England in their pool there was a collision in front of the big open terrace in the stadium and Eric Rush was clearly down in quite some pain.
He was carried to the side line and the news was quickly relaid to us in the commentary box that the New Zealand captain, the man that led the whole thing, had a broken leg and was out. A massive blow.
They only had squads of 10 back then, so New Zealand were down to nine players. As a brief aside, for the final day they drew from the pool of reserve players a young lad from the Uruguayan national team. I have a vivid memory of the final day and New Zealand getting through to the final and there was this young Uruguayan standing dressed in the New Zealand team uniform and, with another injury to one of the New Zealanders, Gordon Tietjens turned to him and said 'warm up', at which point he started gently jogging on the spot and doing star jumps, which I don't think was what the coach was expecting!
Lomu's final, Rush's legacy
Argentina as the hosts had played really well. They hadn't been a force in the Sevens game before that tournament but they brought in Agustin Pichot and he adapted so quickly, was fantastic and they made it through to the semi finals, but in the end the two best teams made it through to the final. New Zealand against Australia.
New Zealand had some terrific players in there, the key one being Jonah Lomu, a highly significant All Black by that time and backed up by people like Amasio Valence, Mils Muliaina, Karl Tenana and Rodney So'oialo.
Australia also had some good players - little speedy Brendan Williams on one wing, Julien Huxley played, Tim Donnelly at the peak of his powers and some other guys all very well coached by Glen Ella.
When the final kicked off, though, the New Zealand team simply said 'let's play this for Eric Rush', who by then had flown out to get his leg fixed.
The first time the ball went out through the back line it came to Jonah and he ran up, faced Brendan Williams, blew him away and scored down under the posts, the first of three tries that he scored. And the crowd went wild - they just loved to see the big guy run for New Zealand. It was a really good win, 31-12.
At the end of a really enjoyable tournament I remember getting home and finding out that the New Zealand team had got back to Auckland, where Eric Rush was in hospital with his leg in a splint, gone into his room and stood round the bed and presented him with his gold medal. It was a fitting tribute to the way they felt about their captain.
Keith Quinn will be commentating at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens for men and women in Dubai on 5-7 March
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