Twelve teams from five continents will be taking part in the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens 2015, the 18th anniversary of this pioneering women’s rugby competition.
To draw the teams into pools, the 12 teams were ‘grouped’ based on their current ranking on the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series as well as rankings in other regional competitions and past performances at the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens.
The results of the draw are:
Pool A
Canada
Argentina
Samoa
Mexico
Pool B
China
Hong Kong
Kazakhstan
Singapore
Pool C
Japan
Netherlands
Papua New Guinea
Tunisia.
A little groan and a few ironic laughs were heard as the all Asian pool B took shape – the Hong Kong players had been looking forward to taking on some new opponents – having played all three teams in their group several times recently.
This year’s tournament is a two day event on the 26-27th March. After the pool games the top 8 teams will go into the Quarter-finals which are a knock-out format with the final at the HK Stadium in front of 40,000 fans.
Hong Kong women’s sevens coach Anna Richards, who was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014, is looking forward to the tournament, noting the strength of Women’s Sevens World Series teams China and Canada and exciting newcomers Mexico and Argentina, who she said “strengthened the competition”.
Hong Kong Women’s Rugby 7s
When: 26-27 March, 2015
Where: 26- Kings Park; 27- Hong Kong Football Club; Final – HK Stadium
How much: Free
More info: facebook.com/hkwr.sevens