The party continued in Wellington as the IRB World Sevens Series came to its conclusion. Among the costumes, dancing and singing, a new star was born.

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The biggest party of the summer kicked off at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington as the IRB Sevens World Series came to New Zealand. Fans were treated to a day of fun, frivolity, singing and dancing under the scorching summer sun…oh, and some great rugby was played too.

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The Wellington leg of the IRB Sevens World Series gets under way on Friday with the home side looking to continue their perfect record after claiming the Dubai and George legs of the tournament. Fans always create a party atmosphere at the ground with costumes, drinking dancing and maybe watching a little rugby.

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What a feast of sport we have coming up this weekend! IRB Sevens from Wellington, Commonwealth Bank Series and the opening weekend of the Super 14 rugby competition. I don’t think I’ll be moving far from the couch this weekend.

First up is the IRB Seven World Series stop in Wellington. I don’t usually watch the Sevens circuit but I always watch the Wellington leg.

There has been some controversy regarding the participation of Fiji in this tournament following their recent coup. Most of the controversy came from Trevor Mallard saying he would like to see Fiji not progress far in the tournament. The fact of the matter is nobody outside of politics cares, we just want to see good Sevens rugby. The favourites for the tournament have to be the hosts New Zealand who are tied for the lead in the series with South Africa. England and Fiji would also have to be contenders.

So far there has been twol upsets when Tonga beat Argentina 14-12, and Canada shocked Australia26-12.

Later tonight the Super 14 gets underway with the Crusaders taking on the Blues in Auckland. This year’s Super 14 is getting under way before any Super rugby tournament in the past and in my opinion it’s too early. However it will be an interesting competition in several respects, firstly because the NZRU has taken 22 All Blacks from the New Zealand teams for “conditioning”. These players will be back in week 8, making the competition much harder for the New Zealand teams. The second interesting aspect of the Super 14 will be how the front row players adjust to the new scrum engagement sequence. For years referees have called, “Crouch and hold, engage!” From this year referees will call, “Crouch, touch” at which point the props will touch the opposing prop on the shoulder, then “pause, engage!”

The Crusaders have an excellent back line on paper, despite missing several All Black including play maker Dan Carter. The forward pack looks weaker that normal without the front line All Blacks and veteran prop Greg Sommerville who is out injured for the entire Super 14. The Blues team have also be weakened with the loss of several All Blacks but are able to field a strong team and even have the luxury of leaving All Black Luke McAlister on the bench in favour of Sam Tuitupou. The Blues biggest weakness is Troy Flavell who is untested as captain at this level. Flavell has earned a reputation as a dirty player having served serveral long suspensions for foul play, but played very well in last year’s Air New Zealand Cup and may have changed his ways.

My prediction for this match: Crusaders by less than 12.

Finally the Commonwealth Bank Series continues in Australia with England taking on Australia in Sydney tonight and New Zealand against Australia from Melbourne on Sunday night. Unfortunately these games will have little bearing on the tournament unless England can beat Australia tonight. An Australian victory will mean that New Zealand will meet Australia in the best of three finals series.

Currently England are 81/1 after 16 overs and look to be making good progress to setting a defendable total. Provided that the English batsmen do not throw away wickets, as they have most of this summer, and they amass a total around 250 this is their best chance of beating Australia who are resting captain Ricky Ponting.

Well, I’m off to enjoy wall to wall sports, I’ll be posting some post match analysis through out the weekend.