Sports
Nathan Hirayama accepted the Player of the Final award Sunday in Singapore
Photo: Martin Seras Lima
Richmond’s Hirayama leads Canada to Sevens rugby glory
It was a legendary tale, that if not true would
be hard to believe.
And in the starring role was Richmond’s own
Nathan Hirayama.
The McRoberts Secondary School graduate earned
Player of the Final honours after leading Canada to its first-ever HSBC World
Rugby Seven Series championship Sunday at the Singapore Sevens, a 26-19 victory
over the United States.
“I’m really happy, but it still hasn’t really
kicked in yet,” Hirayama told the Richmond Sentinel, adding he is anxious to
return to the practice pitch next Monday when Canada begins preparing for the
next World Rugby Sevens Series events in Europe—May 13 and 14 in Paris and May
20 and 21 in London.
Though Canada was able to jump out to an early
19-0 lead against the United States, Hirayama said no one was surprised when
the latter came back to tie the match before Lucas Hammond’s last-minute try
won it for the Canadians.
“We always knew it was going to be a close
game, especially with the U.S. being our geographic rival,” he said. “Sure we
got up 19-0, but I guess we didn’t want to make it easy on ourselves. But
they’re such a dangerous team. Fortunately we were able to refocus after they
had gained the momentum.”
A fly-half, Hirayama also starred in an
offensive role for Canada on Day 2 of the tournament Saturday. He engineered a
hat trick of tries and added three conversions as Canada defeated the vaunted
All Blacks of New Zealand 26-14 in the quarters and then helped his team down
England 17-5 in the semis to reach a cup final for the second time.
Ironically, Hirayama wasn’t sure he’d be fit to
play Saturday.
“I had a bit of injury scare to be honest, but
our (medical team) did a great job,” he said.
Following his dad’s (longtime McRoberts’
teacher Garry Hirayama won 12 caps as a fly-half for Canada in the 1980s),
Nathan Hirayama recently became the all-time points scorer for Canada in rugby
sevens play by surpassing 1,000 points and the legendary Phil Mack. He was
elated to have his parents in attendance in Singapore for Canada’s historic
first championship.
“I’m so fortunate to have both my parents
support me so much throughout my career,” he said. “They’re really special. I
don’t know if they’ve missed game in my 11 seasons. They were both sitting up
in the nosebleeds and I and my teammates gave both of them big hugs when they
came down to greet us.”
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