Tag: HK7s

Olympic Sevens Repechage Draw

Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s rugby 7s teams will soon discover their route to Tokyo. The Olympic Sevens Repechage Draw, the final rugby qualification event for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, will take place on Tuesday, 11 May at 10:00 BST (GMT+1) and will be streamed live on World Rugby’s digital platforms.

Monaco will host the final Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification event on 19-20 June.

Women’s Competition

The women’s competition will see the 12 teams drawn into three pools of four teams. The teams have been banded based on placements in their regional competitions alongside performances in World Rugby tournaments. One team from each band will be drawn into each pool.

Band 1: France, Papua New Guinea, Russia
Band 2: Argentina, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan
Band 3: Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico
Band 4: Madagascar, Samoa, Tunisia

The top two teams in each pool, plus the two third-placed teams with the highest point totals will qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. As there are two Olympic qualification places available for women, the Repechage will feature two rounds of knockout games with the final round featuring four teams competing in two matches where both winners gain Olympic qualification and claim their tickets to Tokyo.

Men’s Competition

For the men’s competition, the 10 teams are drawn into two pools of five teams, including one team from each of the five pre-determined bands.

Band 1: France, Samoa
Band 2: Hong Kong, Ireland
Band 3: Chile, Tonga
Band 4: Uganda, Zimbabwe
Band 5: Jamaica, Mexico

Teams will play against all four opponents in their pools with the top two teams from each pool progressing through to the knockout stages, culminating in the final with the winner booking their place on the plane to Tokyo.

Hong Kong’s Sevens Squads to Train in England

The limitations on competitive sport are impacting on domestic and international competition… So Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s sevens squads will travel to the United Kingdom and Portugal for an extended training camp in May and June.

Training and warm-up matches against international opposition are needed ahead of multiple upcoming tournaments including:

In August the World Rugby Challenger competition for spots on the World Sevens Series.

The 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in September, where Hong Kong’s men’s sevens squad will be the defending champions, after taking Gold in Jakarta in 2018.

Hong Kong’s women finished in fifth place in Jakarta, and hope to improve on that in Hangzhou

The Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa in mid-September. Hong Kong have qualified for every Rugby World Cup Sevens since the inception of the world championship in 1993.

And lastly but by no means least the 45th Hong Kong Sevens in early November, the first international sevens competition to be held in the city in over 3½ years.

Cado Lee Ka Hong Kong Mens Sevens

Hong Kong Rugby Union General Manager of Performance Rugby James Farndon said, “As restrictions tighten in Hong Kong, many of the HKSI’s High Performance Sport Programmes are taking their athletes and coaches overseas to ensure that they can maintain competitive advantage for their respective international competitions.

“Given the importance of our upcoming international tournaments we believe that it is essential for the teams to have optimal preparation including matches against premier international competition. The HKSI’s approach to financially support overseas training camps like this is highly appreciated by the HKRU,” added Farndon.

Training in the United Kingdom also offers the opportunity to enter both teams into two events on the upcoming UK Super Sevens Series, which takes place in May and June across the United Kingdom, and into long-running international sevens warm-up tournaments in Lisbon and the Algarve in Portugal.  These will mark the first international competitions for the teams since November 2021.

The squads will depart on 6 May and will base at Loughborough University, an institution highly regarded for its sports programmes and with excellent training and rehabilitation facilities for the duration of the trip.

Additional reporting, images: HK Rugby

World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 Plans Unveiled

World Rugby announced today a condensed World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 schedule which features five women’s and four men’s rounds, with the addition of a further two potential men’s events under discussion.

The 2021 Series kicks off with back-to-back women’s events in Marcoussis, Paris on 15-16 and 22-23 May. The Series will then take a break for the countdown to the Olympic Games and recommence with a men’s event in Singapore on 29-30 October, followed by joint men’s and women’s rounds in Hong Kong on 5-7 November, Dubai on 3-4 December, followed by an exciting climax in Cape Town on 10-12 December.

New Zealand are the reigning champions of both the women’s and men’s Series after being crowned winners of the 2020 edition, which was brought to an early conclusion with five of the eight women’s rounds and six of the 10 men’s rounds successfully completed prior to the onset of the pandemic.

In the men’s Series, Japan will join as a core team following their promotion from the inaugural World Rugby Challenger Series in 2020, while it has been agreed that in this Olympic year, the England, Scotland and Wales teams will combine to compete as ‘GB Sevens’ in both the men’s and women’s Series’ in 2021. This will create two additional invitational places for teams to participate in the men’s 2021 Series events, with invitational teams to be announced in due course.

Olympic Sevens

The Olympic Sevens competition will take place on 26-31 July, 2021 at Tokyo Stadium. To ensure teams are as best prepared as possible for the Tokyo Games a series of high-performance preparation events will take place.

Monaco will host the World Rugby Sevens Repechage, the final qualification event for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, on 19-20 June, 2021. With 21 of the 24 teams already qualified for the Olympic rugby sevens competition, the remaining two women’s and one men’s spots will be determined in Monaco.

World Rugby Interim Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “Today’s announcement of the World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 schedule marks a significant and exciting moment for rugby seven’s re-emergence from the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic and we thank all Series partners for their unwavering support, and host organisations and participating unions for their hard work, patience and spirit of collaboration.”

“As a key driver of game growth, particularly in emerging markets, the continued success of rugby sevens and the Sevens Series is a strategic priority for World Rugby and our US$4 million funding to support sevens programmes is a clear demonstration of our commitment. This unique Olympic year provides a huge opportunity to reach new audiences around the world and introduce them to the speed, skill and excitement of rugby sevens, encouraging them to become future fans of the Series.

Additional reporting and images: World Rugby

Japan Win in Uruguay, Hong Kong Third

Japan defeated Uruguay 5-0 in an unforgettable final at Montevideo’s Estadio Charrúa, bringing to an end the second tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in South America. Hong Kong beat Chile 12-7 to clinch third place.

After 22 minutes of rugby where both sides cancelled each other out, Japan captain Chihito Matsui finally managed to break the deadlock when he scored in the second half of sudden-death extra-time.

By reaching the final, though, Uruguay secured a place in the top eight in the overall standings and will now compete in the final play-off tournament for a spot in the World Rugby Sevens Series, replacing the bottom-placed core team in the World Series in the following season.

Montevideo champions Japan finished top of the standings on 39 points from a possible 44, after following their bronze medal finish from the first tournament with gold in the second of the South American legs, while Hong Kong’s consistency in reaching the podium on both occasions – second place in Chile was followed third place in Montevideo – was rewarded with the runners-up spot.

Viña del Mar champions Germany beat Italy in the fifth-place play-off and ended up in third spot overall, followed by Chile, Uruguay, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

World Rugby has yet to confirm the third and final round of the men’s World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, which was due to be held in Hong Kong in April.

Breathtaking Final

The final was a high tempo, end-to-end affair but with both defences standing firm in the face of relentless pressure.

Japan had the better of the clear-cut opportunities and could have opened the scoring in the first half of normal time had it not been for Benjamín Amaya’s timely ankle-tap and a handling error from Kasushi Hano when he was five metres from the try-line.

Then, another piece of brilliant defensive work by Diego García stopped Kazushi Hano when it seemed the speedster was in the clear with fifty metres to run.

Uruguay’s best chance to break the deadlock came with 90 seconds of normal time left to play when Kameli Raravou Soejima was sin-binned but they were unable to hammer home their numerical advantage and the scoreline remained at 0-0.

Another scoreless first half of sudden-death extra-time followed before Japan somehow stepped up a gear to finally find a way through, two quickly-taken tap penalties causing disarray in the Uruguayan defence and resulting in the match-winning try for captain Matsui to score the winning try.

South America and Asia for Two Spots

Both semi-finals were South American-Asian encounters with Japan prevailing against Chile and Uruguay were too good for Hong Kong.

Chile, who had lost inspirational captain Felipe Brangier to a knee injury, scored first but then fell away to conceded five tries to rampant Japan who ran out comfortable 31-10 winners.

In the second semi-final, Uruguay’s smart kicking game, deployed by captain Felipe Etcheverry, twice led to tries against shell-shocked Hong Kong, the beaten finalists in the opening tournament.

First Baltazar Amaya crossed on the left-hand side and then Mateo Viñals went over on the opposite flank as Los Teros Sevens won 12-0.

Eight Turns to Four

Chile were a surprise winner in the opening quarter-final, beating Germany in an intense game that seemed to be heading for sudden death when, seconds from the end, Tim Lichtenberg’s unconverted try drew the scores level at 5-5. However, the Viña del Mar champions kicked the restart out on the full. Patience was the key for Chile as they attacked, non-stop, for nearly two minutes until the crack in the German defence appeared and Agustín Planella gave his team the win.

Japan had no trouble in beating Jamaica 32-0 despite an unaccustomed edgy first half and a spirited performance from the Caribbean side. They were more composed in the second half, though, and scored four tries.

A brilliant pass under huge pressure from experienced campaigner, Guillermo Lijtenstein, created the opening try for Uruguay in their quarter-final against Tonga and they went on to add three more tries to win 27-7 and confirm their place in the semi-finals.

To join them in the top four, Hong Kong had to play the waiting game. Trailing Italy by two points with 33 seconds left to play, they recovered possession from a penalty and Max Denmark drew two defenders to put replacement Jamie Hood in for the winning try. An Italian win would have put them among the top eight in the final rankings.

View Montevideo Results >> 

Hong Kong Sevens (Touring Squad): World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series Montevideo:

Max Woodward (Captain); Ben Rimene; Raef Morrison; Michael Coverdale; Hugo Stiles; Cado Lee Ka-to; Jamie Hood; Jack Neville; Alex Mcqueen; Liam Herbert; Russell Webb; Max Denmark; Sebastian Brien; Yiu Kam-shing; Kane Boucaut; Toby Fenn.  

Additional reporting and images: HKrugby, World Rugby

Hong Kong Beaten by Germany in Sevens Challenger Series Final

Hong Kong advanced to the final of the opening tournament in the two-stop World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Chile, before losing 10-0 to Germany. The results keep Hong Kong on track in their bid to qualify for a full-time spot on the World Rugby Sevens Series. 

Germany beat Japan 12-5 in their semi final, while Hong Kong overcame a tough ask from hosts Chile, working their way back from their first deficit of the tournament, 14 points down midway through the first half to win 17-14.

Salom Yiu put Hong Kong on the board shortly before the break with Raef Morrison and Kane Boucaut scoring in the second half to push Hong Kong past the hometown favourites. Earlier in the day, Hong Kong edged by Uganda 10-7 thanks to Jack Neville tries on either side of the interval.

A battered and bruised Hong Kong disappointed in the final, losing 10-0 to the Germans, and adding another chapter to the burgeoning rivalry between the two developing rugby nations at both sevens and fifteens.

It was a bittersweet performance for coach Paul John who was proud of his team’s efforts this week: “Overall, we are pleased with our progress. We finished second and reached the final, which is one of our goals at every tournament, but we suffered a second loss in a final, which is frustrating.

“It was not a great final. I thought it was very flat and we didn’t play our best. We started very poorly and fell off some tackles which helped them at key moments.”

Germany scored their first try shortly before the end of an open first half with both sides having several scoring chances. Penalties and aggressive German defence derailed Hong Kong’s early opportunities keeping them scoreless into the second stanza. Germany pushed their lead to 10-0 after nine minutes and Hong Kong were unable to close the gap down the stretch.

“It is funny, we would have taken that result beforehand if you offered it, but the boys are disappointed with the finish. Still, we are right in the mix now to finish near the top of the two tournaments. Coming in we needed a top eight finish, but our goal was to finish in the top two in both tournaments and we have now done that in the first,” John added.

The squad will travel today to Montevideo, Uruguay where they will take part in the finale next weekend with the same 16 teams.

Rest and recovery are at the top of John’s mind.

“There are some battered and bruised bodies out there after playing six games in two days. Normally, we play five matches in the Asian series, so this is something that we have not done in a while, but no one else has either really. Japan is used to it, but I think we are the only two sides with that experience of back-to-back tourneys with such a huge prize at the end

“The biggest thing is to keep the squad as fresh as we can,” said John, who has the luxury of travelling with 16 players to assess before naming the squad at the end of the week.

“We will look at certain parts of our game of course but it s all about recovery now and having the freshest possible squad come Saturday morning in Montevideo,” John concluded.

During The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series match at Sausalito Stadium on Feb 16, 2020 in Vina del mar, Chile.
Hong Kong Sevens (Touring Squad): World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Max Woodward (Captain); Ben Rimene; Raef Morrison; Michael Coverdale; Hugo Stiles; Cado Lee Ka-to; Jamie Hood; Jack Neville; Alex Mcqueen; Liam Herbert; Russell Webb; Max Denmark; Sebastian Brien; Yiu Kam-shing; Kane Boucaut; Toby Fenn

Additional reporting and images: HKrugby, World Rugby

Hong Kong Men’s Seven in Chile for Sevens Challenger Series

The Hong Kong men’s sevens squad is in Santiago Chile to compete in the new World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

Head coach Paul John has included all 12 of the team that qualified for the 2020 Olympics repechage this June. Experienced campaigners Max Woodward, Ben Rimene, Michael Coverdale, Cado Lee, Jamie Hood, Salom Yiu and Alex McQueen are joined by emerging stars Max Denmark, Hugo Stiles, Seb Brien and Liam Herbert from the Incheon campaign.

The squad also includes Raef Morrison, who missed out on the Olympic qualifier with a training injury shortly before the team’s departure last November. Influential playmaker Jack Neville, and grafting forwards Kane Boucaut and Toby Fenn also come into the squad.

The 16-team opener in Mar del Vina, Chile features eight of the sides participating in last year’s men’s qualifier at the Hong Kong Sevens in hosts Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Jamaica, Tonga, Uganda, Uruguay and Zimbabwe. Seven of the teams participating in this Challenger Series will also compete at June’s Olympic repechage in France.

After a 40-hour transit to Chile, the team has focused on rest and recovery, before ramping up for Saturday’s kick-off. The ease-in period is even more important given that five of the players took part in the domestic league (15s) Grand Final last Saturday before departing on Sunday.

“The boys seem pretty good,” said John from Mar del Vina.

“Still some aches from the weekend games and a few guys waiting to prove their fitness. We have spent a lot of time getting them physically recovered and ready after the trip and have had a couple of training sessions so far, which have been very competitive,” said John.

John believes his side are well prepared and have not been put off by the postponement of the Hong Kong Sevens to 16-18 October while they were away in South America.

“It’s business as usual. Qualifying for the World Series is one of our top aims and these tournaments will go a massive way towards that. We can only assume we have to win and go as hard as we can, which is nothing different from our usual approach.

“The opposition is very good and these two stand-alone tournaments are effectively a mini World Series swing so it’s a good challenge for us. We have to prepare well, play well and take our opportunities when they come. Our focus can only be on what is in front of us now.”

“We just need to take it day by day and top the group on day one and get a good draw for the quarter finals,” he added.

The winners of Pool B will advance to meet the runners-up in Pool C (Germany, Uganda, Italy and Paraguay) in the quarterfinals on Sunday 

It is an interesting group for Hong Kong with familiar foes Papua New Guinea and Jamaica, whom Hong Kong beat at the Chester Sevens last fall, and first time opponents Colombia.

“Papua New Guinea and Jamaica are always difficult. Colombia is the unknown really and are almost at home. When it’s like that, you really have to be on top of your game. But as always it is about us performing as we can. We have to believe in ourselves and execute what we are good at” said John.

“We need to make sure our own game is right. The way it was in Hong Kong last year, when our defence was excellent and we won some very close games and progressed to the final.”

The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series consists of two tournaments, this weekend’s opener in Mar del Vina, Chile (15-16 February), and next weekend’s finale in Uruguay (22-23 February)

Hong Kong Match Schedule: Mar del Vina Day One

 Saturday 15 Feb. 2020 (All times are HK)

Hong Kong v Colombia (23.09)

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea (02.15, Feb 16)

Hong Kong v Jamaica (05.31, Feb 16)

Hong Kong Sevens (Touring Squad): World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Max Woodward (Captain); Ben Rimene; Raef Morrison; Michael Coverdale; Hugo Stiles; Cado Lee Ka-to; Jamie Hood; Jack Neville; Alex Mcqueen; Liam Herbert; Russell Webb; Max Denmark; Sebastian Brien; Yiu Kam-shing; Kane Boucaut; Toby Fenn

Additional reporting and images: HKRugby, World Rugby