The 35-year-old won a Commonwealth Games gold medal in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and recalls his time on the world circuit fondly.
"If a young guy goes well in the Sevens he can get experience, skills and fitness and the exposure to go up to the next level. But I would encourage guys to stay in Sevens as long as possible and just enjoy their rugby. It's in the Olympics now and it's going to be big."
Cullen also recently gave his name to the Christian Cullen Cup for the Wellington schools sevens champions with St Patrick's College (Silverstream) becoming the inaugural holders.
Four of the past five winners will be back in action at the finals. Defending champions Kelston BHS who beat MAGS 26-17 in last year's final face a tough schedule in being pitted against rugby powerhouses NPBHS, St Patrick's and Nelson College in pool A for the 25th national secondary schools rugby sevens.
The 16 schools qualified through a series of regional tournaments.
MAGS have won the tournament three times and been in the final six of the past seven years. MAGS turned the tables on KBHS to win the Auckland qualifier in August and will look to take that form into pool B where they take on Rotorua BHS, Napier BHS and Otago BHS.
Six-time winners Wesley College square off against Feilding HS, Rosmini College and Southland BHS in pool C while pool D features Hamilton BHS, Whangarei BHS, Auckland Grammar School and Shirley BHS from Christchurch.
In addition to the quest for the prestigious Condor Cup, which was first held aloft by Sacred Heart College captain Craig Innes in 1986, the 192 players will be vying for places in the tournament team and an opportunity to train with NZ Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens.
The tournament kicks off with the first pool match at 8.45am. Post-section play continues after the lunch break with the final scheduled for 3.40pm at the Remuera club ground which recently hosted exhibition matches in the presence of IOC President Jacques Rogge, in recognition of the sport's acceptance into the Olympic Games.
Pools.-
Pool A: KBHS, NBHS, St Patrick's College (Silverstream), Nelson College. Pool B: MAGS, Rotorua BHS, Napier BHS, Otago BHS. Pool C: Wesley College, Feilding HS, Rosmini College, Southland BHS. Pool D: Hamilton BHS, Whangarei BHS, AGS, Shirley BHS
Recent winners:
2005: Wesley College 26 MAGS 7.
2006: Hamilton BHS 21 Feilding HS 5.
2007: Gisborne BHS 26 MAGS 14.
2008: Hamilton BHS 10 MAGS 5
2009: MAGS 12 Wesley College 5
2010: KBHS 26 MAGS 12.
CRICKET
AUCKLAND: Resuming at 204/8 on the last day of Auckland Secondary School cricket for the year, St Kentigern pushed their score up to 231 before being dismissed in the first session on day two. Reve Anstis (75) led the way in posting what proved to be the top score of the match.
Harrison Nash picked up a couple of wickets to join Mark Chapman with three for the innings.
King's lost an early wicket but recovered well thanks to 49 from Ben Horne until he was dismissed just before lunch. After lunch left-arm spinner Nick Kelly continued his season-long electrifying form to play his part in keeping a hold on the King's batting.
Despite a timely 72 from captain Simon Hickey and 50 from Mark Chapman there were some nervous moments when King's found themselves at 216/8. However, the tail-enders did their job and edged King's past the target before being dismissed for 264 with Kelly the standout bowler in claiming 6-71 from 22 overs.
Auckland Grammar bagged their second successive outright victory. Allrounder Shawn Hicks pushed on from his overnight 35 to be unbeaten on 45 when the declaration was made at 126/8 - a lead of 46 following Sacred Heart's first innings collapse.
The AGS attack then had the chance to repeat their first innings effort and although there was stubborn resistance from the Sacred Heart top order, especially wicketkeeper Glen Phillips with 54, concerted pressure and the introduction of off-spinner Jack Driscoll had wickets beginning to fall.
Auckland Grammar took all their chances with a near faultless display in the field as Sacred Heart struggled to reach 115 with Driscoll finishing with the outstanding figures of 6-29 from nine overs in his last game for the school. This left AGS needing to score 70 runs in 34 overs to claim outright points. There was an early setback when a wicket fell on the second ball but led by an unbeaten 43 from Hicks they cruised home without further loss.
After assessing the pitch, MAGS declared their first innings at their first day score of 129/5 whereupon Westlake countered by forfeiting their first innings. MAGS were soon in trouble at 24/2 but some hard work saw them through to a declaration at 60/6 leaving WBHS to score 190 from a minimum 71 overs. Solid batting throughout led by Jordan Ranson (43) and an unbeaten 49 from Wesley Jarman got Westlake into a winning position at 135/6 with 25 overs remaining but some good bowling from MAGS ended their hopes at 175 after 67 overs. Teja Nidamanuru added another five wickets to his season-long haul and was aided by seamer Brett Randell with 3-26.
In the plate competition, Rangitoto wrapped up the St Peter's first innings quickly on day two dismissing them for 205.
Keen to finish the season on a winning note, Rangitoto reached their target for the loss of eight wickets. Standout performers were Jackson Tredray (31), Guy Harley (34) and Michael Jeram (67). Robbie Compston completed a good all round match for St Peter's in picking up 3-10.
Avondale resumed at 98/3 with 22 overs to bat and pushed their total up to 185 thanks to 70 from Sachin Variath and 55 from Harshal Vyas before declaring.
In reply Kelston started well and had a couple of good partnerships with captain Sean Chicks (53) getting them to the strong position of 110/2. The Avondale bowlers then produced a devastating spell to remove the last eight batsmen for only 30 runs. Vishi Kumar was destroyer in chief with 4-10.
Rosmini got through to a first innings win against Macleans and the points they needed to clinch the Plate title.
After good Macleans bowling had reduced Rosmini to 56/5 they began to entertain thoughts of a comfortable victory but first Mark Gill, with 31, and then an amazing innings of 75 undefeated from Mark Casey got Rosmini home by one wicket. Seam bowler Dhruv Dogras with 3-41 was the standout bowler for Macleans
WAIKATO: St Peter's School made no race of what was expected to be a close top-of-the-table battle for the 1A term four 50-over championship.
Batting first, St John's struggled and failed to capitalise on a number of dropped catches as they chased early runs.
The introduction of the St Peter's spin bowlers quickly changed the course of the match. Jono Whitley struck in his first over to bowl Brett Kennedy for 22. Two overs later he bagged the big wicket of Sam Cooper. Whitley completed his 10 overs with 3-35 while off-spinner Alex Lunn was also impressive with 2-17 from his 10.
For St John's, Matt Swney compiled 33 from 65 balls but he lacked support and the innings ended at 129.
Cooper opened the bowling for St John's and created three chances in his first over and troubled the St Peter's openers. However, Cooper only managed to bowl one ball in his second over before limping off with a hamstring injury. This eased the pressure for the St Peter's openers although Jamie Blackburn who replaced Cooper did bowl well. He got the breakthrough in removing Sam Pulis with the total at 22.
St John's received further encouragement when Eddie Walker was removed by Connor Clark without scoring. This brought Ben Schilt to the crease. He and Doug Bradley put on 53 runs to steer the match in St Peter's favour. Bradley was dismissed for 34 but Schilt batted on to remain unbeaten on 58 from 57 balls. St Peter's went on to win comfortably by six wickets to claim the title with a round to play and retain the coveted Dave Hoskin Trophy.
Playing at home, Cambridge High won the toss and chose to bat against Matamata College who took two early wickets then had the hosts in trouble at 60/3.
Jono Feast then joined Nik Boyle. They played some excellent cricket often putting great pressure on the Matamata fielders and they added 138 runs for the fourth wicket with Feast reaching 50 and Boyle 100 within balls of each other. Feast was dismissed shortly after which brought Hugo Bothma out to join Boyle in a 79-run partnership which ended when Boyle was dismissed for a marvellous 167 and Cambridge went on to post 288/6 from their 50 overs.
The visitors had a solid start with Singh and Freeman piling on an 83-run opening partnership before leg-spinner Mitch Kirkbride struck. O'Malley joined Freeman and they added 94 for the second wicket. The momentum then fell away and in the end Matamata fell 39 runs short of their target as Feast completed a good match double with 4-55.
Against St Paul's, Shaan Singh-Parhar (43no), Paddy Carson (37) and Maison Carstensen (31) all batted well for the HBHS Development X1 taking them through to a respectable total of 190/7 from their 50 overs.
Guy Wilkins, was the pick of the St Paul's bowlers taking 2-34 from his 10 overs. He was well-supported by Chris Swanson 2-32 and Freddy Walker 1-28 off 10 overs.
St Paul's started well and put on 34 runs for the first wicket. St Paul's were looking strong at 159/4 until a couple of wickets fell quickly and there was some concern in the camp until Jacob Robb (34no) and Malcolm Luman saw St Paul's through to a four-wicket win in the second to last over.
In the 1B competition Hillcrest High, led by big centuries from Seb Curry (167) and Sean Rudman (145no) piled on a massive 424/9 in their 50 overs giving the hapless Te Aroha College attack no respite. Liam Koch fared best with 3-74 as Curry and Rudman added 285 runs for the sixth wicket after coming together at a precarious 89/5. In reply Te Aroha were dismissed for 91 giving Hillcrest victory by 333 runs.
Morrinsville kept pace with Hillcrest at the top of the points table with an eight-wicket win over St Peter's 2nd X1 in a low-scoring affair while Hamilton BHS Emerging X1 dismissed Fraser HS for 230 to win that match by 43 runs.
KILIKITI
The annual junior tournament scheduled for last week but cancelled because of the weather will now be held next Wednesday at the Auckland Domain. Entries have been re-opened and will close on Friday.
VOLLEYBALL
After beating the top two seeds, McAuley High and Mangere College won through as surprise finalists in the Auckland SS junior girls championships. Continuing their good form, McAuley, led by tournament MVPO Rosita Alisi, won the all-South Auckland battle 2-0.
The boys' final produced the same result as Manurewa High, again well-led by MVP Jonathan Tufuga, beat One Tree Hill College.
ON THE WEB
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