Christie revels in sevens jaunt [Nelson Mail]

Two weeks of saturation sevens appears to have done Tasman Makos flanker Shane Christie the world of good.

He has just returned from the Carlton Super Sevens tournament in Sri Lanka as part of the North Western Blacks side that shared the overall championship honours.

A member of Gordon Tietjens' world champion New Zealand sevens squad last year, Christie has been nursing a serious groin injury for about the past two months, playing only a minimal part in this year's club competition. But after testing himself thoroughly during both legs of the Carlton Super Sevens series in Kandy and Colombo, the 26-year-old loosie said he now felt in good physical condition.

"It was good for me to get over there and get some fitness, I think, because I've been injured for two months," he said. "So now that I'm back from injury and had a good two week's fitness, I'll be able to get back into club rugby and start building towards ITM Cup."

His bank balance is also significantly healthier after his team won the Kandy leg (May 26-27), before finishing seventh in Colombo (June 2-3) to share the overall title in the 10-team series with Jaffna Challengers.

"In the second [Colombo] leg, we got heaps of injuries and ended up coming seventh. But it was a good trip though, certainly hard on the body."

The conditions were certainly testing, particularly in Colombo's stifling 30-35 degree Celsius heat and excessive humidity.

"The boys were just stuffed after the first day [in Colombo]. That's why I think a lot of the foreigners ended up getting injured because they were trying to do so much work, covering for the Sri Lankan boys."

He'd been invited to the tournament as part of Canterbury sevens coach Chris Neill's North Western Blacks lineup, having turned down an offer to join the Western Warriors. The bulk of the New Zealand sevens squad competed at the tournament.

"It was definitely the right choice in the end," said Christie.

He was relieved that his troublesome groin had passed the test and was now looking forward to his Nelson club side's Bayleys Tasman Trophy clash with Waimea Old Boys on Saturday.

"When I went over there, my groin was only about 90 [per cent] but by the time I got into the first leg in Kandy it was good. I'm happy with it."