Tag: Hksevens

Surprise, Surprise… Not! Sevens Postponed Again

To no one’s great surprise the Hong Kong Rugby Union have announced that next year’s Hong Kong Sevens will be postponed, from April to 4-6 November 2022.

The HKRU commented, “It’s basically because the prevailing quarantine and travel restrictions are too difficult to bring in international teams.”

“We’re very disappointed for the rugby community here in Hong Kong and the fans around the world who look forward to the event. But equally, public health is the number one priority and we respect that.”

When asked if the postponement will affect Hong Kong’s reputation in the rugby world: “I don’t think it’s so much affecting Hong Kong’s reputation in the rugby world.”

“I think for all of the major sports events, the ‘M’ Mark events, it’s important we retain our respective places in the global sporting calendar. I think the thing that we are all really concerned about is ensuring that we can get back to hosting these events so that we don’t lose slots on the calendar and Hong Kong retains its place as an important destination for international sports events.”

HK Sevens – Rescheduled 
Date: 4-6 November, 2022
Venue: HK Stadium
Tickets: $1,950 (tbc)

RIP Sean Browne

Sadly Sean Browne passed away today aged just 32.
Chapeau my friend, a life well lived!

There hasn’t been a rugby tournament or trophy presentation over the past decade without Sean being a supporting part and enjoying the rugby.

The HKRU announced his passing in this way.

“Sean loved Hong Kong rugby, and we loved him – there are so many special memories of him leading out our national teams and joining them for the anthem line-ups, although he wasn’t adverse on the odd occasion to pin his colours to another international team if he thought they had a better chance of winning!

….He made our lives better, as I hope we did for him”

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

Ireland Too Good for Hong Kong

Ireland secured a place as a core team on the World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 by beating Hong Kong in the final of the men’s annual world series qualifier.

After three days of action, Anthony Eddy’s side proved to be worthy winners as they finished up with a comfortable 28-7 win in the competition-decider.

The victory in front of a packed, 40,000 strong crowd at the Hong Kong Stadium means Ireland will become one of the 15 core teams contesting the 10-round world series.

In the final Ireland struck first through Harry McNulty and captain Billy Dardis added the conversion. It gave them a spring in their step and an excellent angled run from O’Shea delivered their second just before half-time. A second successful conversion put them 14 points up before they extended that out to 21.

Hong Kong responded when Ireland went down to six men following a yellow card but Terry Kennedy’s converted try created a 28-7 advantage. As the time went into the red, the home side continued to battle but Ireland’s gutsy defence held firm and the players cried tears of joy as the full-time whistle sounded.

“We’re just delighted with this,” said captain Dardis after the full-time whistle. “It’s been a long and hard road. I think that we all just stood on the pitch there and couldn’t move. We’re just speechless. It’s class! It won’t sink in for a couple of weeks.”

This time last year, Ireland were knocked out at the semi-final stage by eventual winners Japan but went on to have a head-turning season.

The side played as the invitational team at the London and Paris rounds in the 2018 world series and took home a bronze medal from London. They won 23 of their 24 matches across the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series and at this all-important qualifying competition showed their strength and quality.

Ireland were housed in Pool F alongside Jamaica, Uruguay and Russia. The first day saw them comprehensively beat the Reggae Crocs 26-0 before starting strongly against Los Teros Sevens.

A 26-7 lead over Uruguay was clawed back though and had Tomas Ubilla not missed the final conversion attempt, a loss would have been recorded. Ireland used the overnight break to refocus and returned to record back-to-back wins over Russia on day two.

The first 33-7 victory completed their pool campaign before a statement quarter-final result followed. A 47-0 victory in the last-eight included braces from Jordon Conroy, O’Shea and Kennedy and created a last-four meeting with Germany.

The semi-final was a clash of the titans as both sides gave it absolutely everything. Although Anthony Eddy’s outfit led 5-0 at the break they went 10-5 down in the second half.

Despite the high stakes, Ireland kept their composure and worked a team try with just over a minute to go. Captain Dardis was the try-scorer and his monster conversion pushed them 12-10 in front. The cherry on top arrived after they secured the final kick-off and Conroy carried two German defenders over the line with him. Dardis again converted for a 19-10 victory.

Having earned their place on the World Rugby Sevens Series 2020, Ireland can now look forward to playing at the top level of rugby sevens ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Ireland will aim for Olympic qualification when the European regional qualification tournament takes place in Colomiers, France on 13-14 July, 2019.

World Rugby recently announced a new-look men’s and women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series which includes at least six combined events, as the women’s series increases to eight rounds for the first time in its history over the next four-year cycle. Dubai, Cape Town, New Zealand, Sydney, Hong Kong and Paris will host combined men’s and women’s sevens events from next season onwards as part of the next four-year world series hosting cycle.

Additional reporting and images: World Rugby