Nathan Hirayama achieved a significant points milestone over the weekend. His tournament-leading 53-point haul in Vancouver vaults him into 5th place on the all-time HSBC Sevens Series scoring list. On Saturday he overtook legendary Pacific duo Waisale Serevi and Uale Mai, and his try against France on Sunday took him past Scotland great Colin Gregor.
Just a few days short of his 30th birthday, Hirayama will celebrate his 60th HSBC event in Hong Kong next month and will look to continue his form which sees him as the current points leader on the 2017-18 circuit with 219. Only two active players are now ahead of him on the all-time list – South Africa playmaker Cecil Afrika and all-time try-scoring leader Dan Norton of England.
The trio now have four stops remaining on this year’s season to reach the 1,500 career points mark, a level only achieved by two players previously. England’s Ben Gollings is the only player to reach 2,500 career points with Tomasi Cama of New Zealand more than 600 behind in second spot, the only other player to hit 2,000 career points.