In the athletes' village in Fallowfield, Henry Paul is less than 20 miles away from Wigan, his home for the five years that established him as a rugby league star before he moved on to Bradford, then switched codes with Gloucester less than 12 months ago. But it is, he concedes, a different world.

His first year in union has been far from plain sailing, with problems at Gloucester and heavy criticism for his role in England's defeat in France on his only senior international appearance thus far. But he has also shared in an England win in the Hong Kong Sevens in April, and now finds himself going for Commonwealth Games gold - with the possibility of playing his native New Zealand in Sunday's final.

Predictably Paul, proud of his Maori heritage, would rather discuss the novel experience of living in the village than the prospect of facing down the haka instead of performing it, for the first time in his career.

"To be at this event, it's nothing less than awesome," said the 28-year-old Aucklander, who qualifies to play for England through Bill Allen, his mother's father who went to New Zealand with the merchant navy aged 16.

"You're in with a whole bunch of great athletes, not watching it on TV but in there and part of it. On the bus back from the opening ceremony I was sat next to James Hickman, and he was telling me about the pool and how many world championships, Olympics and Commonwealths he's been to. You can see why these guys from other sports love being part of events like this."

There is plenty of chuntering in the game Paul left behind about union's success in establishing sevens as a Commonwealth sport - with the Olympics a natural next step - first as a demonstration event in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and now in league's backyard.

Indeed, the way in which the International Rugby (Union) Board has built on the lucrative Hong Kong competition to establish a worldwide sevens circuit is an example of the way its administrators run rings around their league counterparts - a major reason why Paul, and his England sevens coach Joe Lydon, made the big switch.

Sevens rugby, too, suits Paul much more than concentrating on his mauling technique on a muddy midwinter day at Leicester. The format's two seven-minute halves, with unlimited interchanges from a 12-man squad, rewards speed and skill.

"The main thing I've found different since the switch is just the [union] game, and the slowness of it," he said. "I enjoy sevens because it's more like league, a bit more flashy. It's go go go, there's no down time. Kicking is the least favourite option because it's giving the ball away, whereas in 15s you're kicking for position all the time."

But Paul did not switch codes to play sevens, and those problems at Gloucester (when he was fined for public criticism of the coaching methods at the club) plus his frequent visits to Yorkshire where he has gone into business with his younger brother Robbie have prompted constant speculation of a return to league.

Not true, he says. "I've got no regrets at all. I knew it was a big decision, but I wanted to try something different while I was still able-bodied and have a fair crack at it. And I'm really rapt in the things that have come - and now this, which is once in a lifetime."

Robbie cannot make it to the City of Manchester Stadium tonight when the group games start, with England to play two of their three pool matches. He will be at Bradford's Super League derby against Leeds, which will also prevent the dual-code players Tevita Vaikona and Lesley Vainikolo turning out for Tonga against Wales and South Africa.

England open against the Cook Islands then face a Kenya team whom Lydon describes as "an unknown quantity". The competition only gets serious for England tomorrow afternoon, with their last group game against Samoa, before a quarter-final against one of the qualifiers from Wales's group.

Assuming England come through the Sunday lunchtime semi-final they can only play New Zealand - hot favourites under their veteran captain-coach Eric Rush - or Australia in the final, for which all 38,000 tickets have been sold.