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'My GPS blew up': Black Ferns Sevens star's viral Olympics interview
By Sam Smith
Black Ferns Sevens star Ruby Tui is the latest viral sensation to come out of the Tokyo Olympics.
Fresh off her side's 36-0 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee in the quarter-final of the women's rugby sevens tournament on Friday, Tui provided a spirited and energetic interview with the BBC's Jill Douglas.
Tui was so captivating that a video of the interview, posted by Currie on Twitter, has been viewed 1.6m times and has garnered more than 16,000 likes.
"BBC - better be clear!" Tui began with a cheeky grin before addressing the camera in Samoan and then giving her thoughts in English.
"Russia, they are very cool people, man. We get on with them, very lovely people, but on the field, they are bloody tough.
"They're a tough, tough team and, to be honest, they weren't at the last Olympics, so this is huge for them. Massive congratulations to Russia, thank you so much.
"I don't want to say the score made it look easy, but it was not easy. Don't be fooled! That was not an easy game, lots of running. My GPS just blew up, that's how hard it was! Lots of respect for Russia."
Tui, a veteran of the Black Ferns Sevens side and a silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was then asked for her thoughts on the Great Britain side.
The 29-year-old has rarely played the British side given the Black Ferns Sevens normally compete against England, Wales and Scotland as separate entities on the World Sevens Series circuit.
Tui made note of that, in typically enthusiastic and comedic fashion.
"I love how GB come together," she said. "They're all split up but then for the Olympics [come together] ... it's funny because in the scrum, they'll probably hate me saying this, sorry Abbie [Brown], but when they go down, they go, 'England!'
"Like they're real proud to be England, but they can't do it here, so Abbie's gotta go, 'GB!' when she goes down.
"Everybody comes together. Scotland have got a couple of really good players in there. Wales, obviously, [Jasmin] Joyce is bloody gas. Gassed a couple of us, even.
"I love the whole concept of GB, and like I said, huge congratulations to Great Britain and all the people of that place, because they fundraised, they worked hard, they campaigned.
"I think even a couple of us donated and they ended up at the Olympics, so huge, huge mahi ... big job, sorry, mahi means job."
Douglas then went to end the interview due to the impending rain, which had wreaked havoc during day two of the women's tournament, to which Tui replied: "What rain? Bring on the thunder! We're at the Olympics, just be happy. Let's compete safely and peacefully. Peace and love. Love you guys."
The response on Twitter has been emphatically positive, as a number of onlookers have praised Tui's positivity and authenticity.
Tui and the Black Ferns Sevens will continue their bid for an Olympic gold medal on Saturday when they meet Great Britain in the tournaments semi-finals on Saturday.
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Latest Comments
Yes I was surprised at how close the pen count was - the spread between best and worst being just 2. The number of yellow cards though will surely be something the Boks will look to address
Go to commentsBriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!
It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.
It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.
Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.
Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!
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