With his distinctive shaved head and bushy beard, Kiwi rugby star DJ Forbes, 36, has been the player who had defined All Blacks Sevens teams over the last decade, with his physicality and bustling defence having been the hallmarks of his game.

Now recently retired, Forbes was in Singapore last weekend doing worked an ambassador for the game and also trying to grow the sport of rugby in Singapore and the region.

Said Forbes, “I just got into Singapore last night and we were involved in a roadshow to build the hype of the game in Singapore, in terms of the HSBC Rugby Sevens and the recently concluded Commonwealth Games. And we then spent Saturday morning at the Evergreen college with the boys and girls. It was a good experience for them; we did some running and rugby skills and drills. Some of them had seen me on TV so it was a good chance for them to meet me in person and take photos and everything.”

He added, “It was also heartening to see the amount of boys and girls who are keen to learn and play the sport. There is a lot of room for Singapore rugby to improve. Rugby is a sport that Singapore is only beginning to explore and embrace now, but I could sense the excitement and passion for the game in these young kids. They know that rugby is a great sport to learn and one can pick up some good life skills from it as well.”

And over the next few years, Forbes hopes to continue to hold such coaching clinics in the region. He said, “My plan is to come to these countries; I hope that Asian nations are keen to use my services for coaching, clinics and camps. With me being retired now and having more time, I can get to these and help out where I need to.”

Continued Forbes, “Rugby in Asia is growing and if there is a time to be involved, it is now. The goal of all these countries may be to make it to the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games as the pinnacle, but you need to start somewhere and begin with say the South East Asia or the Asian Games. Malaysian Rugby has improved a lot in recent years and I can see no reason why Singapore Rugby cannot do the same too.”

I had caught up with Forbes last Saturday noon at the Jeep showroom near Redhill, where he had been hosting a fitness workout event. 

Besides being involved in work as an ambassador, Forbes is also using his retirement to catch up on lost family time. He said, “I try and stay home as much as I can to do the school runs and pick up the lunches and that sort of thing. I have also done some commentary work back home and I hope to eventually get into coaching – that is the next step. I am just beginning to get busy again but I am generally quite excited about life after rugby.”

He added, “Basically I am focused on trying to sort out what is next for me and my future. You cannot play rugby forever. That said, I an excited for the new talent coming through in the All Blacks team, but more so for the rise of rugby in Asia and all the countries that are now trying to bring their profile higher now that rugby sevens is an Olympic sport. That is truly exciting.”

For the upcoming HSBC Rugby Sevens tournament in Singapore though, Forbes admitted that it would feel a little strange for him to be present but not on the pitch with the boys. He said, “It is a little strange to be here without playing. I have been going around Singapore visiting places and sights and restaurants, and basically getting a taste of what Singapore is like. But I have been running around a lot and keeping fit by staying active too.”

He added, “You know though, when I was playing, we had to be quite strict on what we eat. But now, you know, I was in Malaysia a couple of weeks ago and then to Hong Kong and now I am in Singapore, and I have been enjoying the food a lot more but still making sure that I can at least train. I don’t want to have too much food without training. I’m having a lot of fun but trying to stay active basically.”

Forbes admitted that his favourite is fast food takeaways in particular. He said, “Oh my kids love takeaways so if the kids want that and they cannot finish the food, then I am allowed to finish it now. If they ask for McDonalds or KFC then Dad is happy to get it and eat the leftovers. But when I was playing rugby, I used to hate having to chuck it into the rubbish knowing that I could easily finish it, but I had to watch what I was eating. Nowadays our family does not throw away any more leftovers.”

Still though, Forbes is looking forward to the Singapore tournament which will be taking place on the 28th and 29th of this month and seeing what the two days of action will bring.

He said “It will be very interesting to see what the Singapore Sevens has. Half of the players went to Hong Kong for the Sevens there and the rest went to Gold Coast for the recent Commonwealth Games, so there will be plenty of battered and bruised bodies. So it’s going to be interesting to see what the coaches and countries do because there are only two more stops on the World Series after Singapore.” 

Continued Forbes, “So Singapore will be a crucial one – the team that will go into the last two tournaments on top, may depend on this result, so I assume there are a lot of teams who will bring in their best team regardless of sore bodies to Singapore because the top four in the table is very close and the points that Singapore has to offer is going to be crucial.”

The Singapore tournament for the past three editions, had seen the underdogs triumph. Does Forbes see this happening again?

Said Forbes, “Honestly, I do not think that the players look at it as a surprise regardless of who wins because any team on their day can win the tournament. From the spectators point of view, like in the 15s rugby, they assume that only the big nations should be winning but to the players, anyone on their day can win. It is not about who is the favourites but more about who is the most keen to perform on the day.”

He hopes to see some good results from the All Blacks Sevens though. Said Forbes, “The main positive is that the New Zealand boys are more centralised now. Over the years when everyone has watched us, we would turn up for training and play and we would do well but now the boys live as well as train together so we hope that this programme will play dividends in the long run with the eventual goal being a gold at the Olympics.”

This programme that Forbes had been mentioning, had produced a gold medal for the All Blacks Sevens at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia, which had concluded recently. 

But Forbes said, “Still though, right now this new programme is a bit of a mixed bag because the boys started well in Africa for the HSBC Sevens, but they had dropped off the pace in the middle. But with both the old and the new players coming together, I think that they are building up nicely with a while away to go to the Olympics still.”

He added, “In Singapore we want the boys to do well of course; to come here and win would be great. Singapore is an awesome stadium with a nice venue and this is a rather new tournament as it has only been here for three years now. We have never won here so the New Zealand team and a lot of players who have never played in Singapore before will be excited by the opportunity as well.”

Forbes pointed out that he loves the family aspect of the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens. He said, “Singapore has been doing really well in trying to create more  family zones. Singapore is a really safe country so why not really get behind the rugby and have people from all walks of life support it?” 

He continued, “So this means that having a carnival atmosphere and getting the kids involved is a great concept. Hopefully we can get families to turn out in numbers to fill up the stadium.”