Western Samoa played very well but they didn't seem to have the necessary all-round strength to get to the final. It proves that when you become the best sevens specialist in the world it leaves room for little else.It also works the other way. There have been complaints against the World Cup format and there is still much to be learned. For a start, ITV could learn that there was more than one British Isles team involved.

Perhaps I was unlucky, but I hardly saw a glimpse of Scotland, Ireland or Wales in action on my screen. Although Fiji were brilliant and South Africa not far behind, I wasn't too impressed with the general standard Too many other commitments are getting in the way. Jon Sleight-holme had been first out of the dressing-room traps But his replacement was making up the lost ground, rapidly. In the shadows at West Hartlepool, Simon Geoghegan was galloping again.. Fiji's victory in the World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong last weekend proved that there is no point in playing sevens rugby at that level unless you intend to take it very, very seriously.

Realistically, I'm looking at trying to build up for next season."With that, the formerly grounded wing was gone. In the light which shone from the clubhouse you could make out the hulk-like shoulders and familiar charging gait. My priority now is to get back into the Bath team and to play regularly. But coming back, after the surgery I've had, is going to take some time.

I had 80 minutes in a friendly on Tuesday and then half-an-hour or so as a replacement tonight. Since undergoing surgery to have seven millimetres of bone removed from his arthritic big toes after breaking down at Orrell on the season's opening day, he has had screws in both digits. Telfer's report to Ian McGeechan, whom he will assist with the coaching in South Africa, and to Fran Cotton, the Lions' tour manager, could state no more than the obvious: that the Knebworth man with the Irish roots is fit and well and raring to go.If Geoghegan is given the green light on Wednesday to go with the Lions there will be no shortage of those accusing the selectors of having a screw loose That is more than can be said of the player himself. If only it had been a month or two earlier, Ireland might not have been in need of so much Lucozade to aid their recovery from the Five Nations' Championship. As it happened, he suffered the fate that has become so frustratingly familiar while playing for the land of his Galway fathers.