NZ, England and Fiji arrive after flight delay
Sonny Bill Williams and his All Blacks rugby sevens teammates were made to wait a few extra hours before they set foot on Singapore soil last night.
The New Zealand team were scheduled to arrive here around 7.10pm ahead of this weekend's HSBC Singapore Sevens at the National Stadium, but a "medical emergency" on board the flight - which also carried the Fiji and England teams - forced the Cathay Pacific flight to turn back to Hong Kong.
The three teams eventually touched down at Changi Airport last night at around 11.50pm.
While local fans had to wait a little longer for Rugby World Cup winner Williams, they got the chance to get up close to another big name yesterday at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
Super Bowl winner Nate Ebner was part of the United States team that arrived with Australia and Wales around 6.20pm yesterday.
Ebner, a safety for American National Football League (NFL) side New England Patriots who obtained a leave of absence to play for the US Sevens team shortly after agreeing a new two-year with the reigning Super Bowl champions worth US$2.4million ($3.2m), has held a lifelong dream of competing in Olympic rugby after he picked up the game from his late father.
Over 500 fans welcomed the teams at the Pan Pacific Hotel, the official team hotel, and Ebner, who was part of the Patriots' Super Bowl winning-team of 2015, said: "It's been a long journey making it to the NFL and now playing on the Seven Series (but) it's been fun all the way.
"It's exciting to come to places like Singapore and I'm just taking every moment in as it comes. It's pretty awesome to see so many fans here welcoming us here.
"I can't wait to get over the jetlag and start practising here in Singapore... What we really want to focus on is to tighten our plays before the competition. Whatever it is, we will definitely enjoy it."
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