ALL STARS TAKE THE FIELD ON DAY ONE AT BYRON BAY 7S
Rugby fever is sweeping Byron Bay this weekend with the town’s annual sevens tournament kicking off under blue skies.
Among those taking part are a group of players who are far your average group of suburban punters.
Between them there’s a few hundred top flight appearances, along with some legends of world rugby.
“In our team we’ve got a couple of guns, but if it were 10-years-ago we would have probably done all right but it’s all a bit of fun,” said former wallaby Lote Tuqiri.
Tuqiri headlines an all-stars team which includes Brumbies legend George Smith.
The team’s campaign got underway on Saturday morning, against a Singapore side stacked with experience.
One man you wouldn’t expect to see starting in a game of sevens is Todd Carney.
The former NRL player has been playing for NRRRLL side, the Byron Bay Red Devils.
“It’s something different, I’ve never played rugby before, it’s a good experience to obviously play with blokes like this,” Carney told NBN News.
56-teams are playing in the two day tournament, which includes both a competitive and social division for the men, along with a women’s competition.
“Women’s rugby is going through the roof at the moment, and our social men are also having some fun,” said Competition Director Matt Barlow
While there’s no doubt each team would love to take home the trophy, some are happy to just pull on a jersey.
“Saturday is all the round games, the Sunday is all our semi finals and finals,” said Barlow.