being sin-binned against Wales on Saturday by leading his Reggae Boyz into the Bowl final at the 2001 Hong Kong Sevens yesterday.

The Bermudian led the way with an outstanding display as the Windies, appearing for the first time, stole the hearts of the 40,000-crowd at a full-house Hong Kong Stadium despite losing 47-5 to the hosts in the final.

The West Indies, who were competing in a major sevens final for the first time, did not think they did themselves justice in the Bowl showdown, but were happy with their overall performance in the tournament.

"We had a bit of stage fright -- we are not used to playing in front of such a big crowd,'' said Hurdle, of Teachers.

"A couple of times our defence was a bit ragged and we did not capitalise on the overlap. But we are a new side and we learnt a lot here. The atmosphere is simply amazing,'' said Hurdle.

The West Indies reached the final with a 19-12 win over a young Taiwan side comprising chiefly of university students.

The pace of Hurdle and some stout tackling gave the West Indies the edge in this close encounter. Hurdle, fellow Bermudian Jon Cassidy and James Waters each scored a try to book their berth in the final.

In the quarter-final, Hurdle and company saw off a plucky challenge from Thailand 34-26. Danny McGavern, the third Bermudian in the Windies side, led the way with a hat-trick while Ronald Silverstone, Cassidy and Hurdle also got their names on the scoresheet.

Hurdle began the final with a bang when he caught the more-fancied home team unawares when he barged over for an early try. But Hong Kong made up for that blip as they ran in seven tries with big winger Mark Solomon scoring a hat-trick.

"This tournament was a learning curve for us. We are very happy to have reached the Bowl final and we hope to return next year and go further,'' said Windies coach Mark Hewitt.

New Zealand defeated lacklustre Fiji 29-5 to win the Cup Championship for the eighth time while the United States beat Wales 31-26 to grab the Plate.

The Kiwis took home prize money of US$100,000 for their effort.

On Saturday, Hurdle was punished for a late tackle on Welsh forward Will Thomas, earning the wrath of the citing commissioner after the challenge was missed by the referee.

"When I saw it on video, it definitely looked like a late challenge. But I was in my stride and there was no way I could have stopped in time. It was just one of those things,'' said Hurdle, after the Windies went down 47-0 to Wales.

Hurdle was suspended for the team's 32-12 defeat by Russia.

Waters earned the distinction of scoring the West Indies' first try in the tournament early in the second-half against Russia.

McGavern folowed suit and put more points on the board for the West Indies.