"Training at Cornish Pirates, Exeter Chiefs and London Welsh will be a curious affair this week. So, too, at Neath and Newport in the Principality Welsh Premiership, while not even the plusher pastures of Cardiff Arms Park, Rodney Parade and the Liberty Stadium have welcomed too many world champions. Household names will be elsewhere, preparing for Six Nations skirmishes at Murrayfield, Twickenham and Rome, but the golden glint of World Cup medals will shine as much as the sevens rugby in Dubai itself.
"So how did it come to this? How did Wales – who did not even have a sevens side little more than three years ago after some WRU cost-cutting – turn themselves from 80-1 title outsiders into world champions? How did a team that had to pre-qualify in Germany beat mighty New Zealand (15-14 in the quarter-final) and sevens specialists Samoa (19-12 in the semi-final) and then avenge an earlier pool defeat to Argentina to win sevens rugby's greatest prize?"
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