Hong Kong Rugby Sevens Visitor's Guide

HK Sevens: A game for all

Sevens is a cut-down, speeded up version of conventional rugby. Faster, higher scoring and with fewer rules, Sevens has a wider appeal than the original fifteens version. Established in 1976 and organised by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, the Hong Kong Sevens is the world’s premier international sevens event, marking its 40th anniversary in 2015. In 1999, the Hong Kong Sevens became a part of World Rugby’s HSBC Sevens World Series.

To date, Hong Kong is the only HSBC Sevens World Series event to host 28 international teams, more than any other tournament, along with offering the largest prize purse in international sevens (US$150,000). The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union is also the only international rugby union to have hosted two Rugby World Cup Sevens, in 1997 and 2005.

Get your bearings

A 12-team qualifying competition will accompany the core team action at the Hong Kong Stadium. The 12 teams, comprising two from each of World Rugby’s six regions, will be battling for the sole spot available for promotion to the HSBC Sevens World Series in the 2015/2016 season. The winner of the qualifier will replace the bottom-placed team on the HSBC Sevens World Series after the completion of the final event on this year’s series at Twickenham in
May.

The 12 confirmed teams for the qualifier tournament are Russia and Spain from Europe, Papua New Guinea and Tonga from Oceania, Zimbabwe and Tunisia from Africa, Mexico and Guyana from the Americas and Uruguay and Brazil from South America. Hosts Hong Kong, champions of the Asian Rugby Football Union’s regional sevens series in 2014, will be joined by South Korea as Asia’s representatives in the qualifier competition. 2013 Asian sevens champions Japan were victorious in last year’s international qualifier and are participating on the core HSBC
Sevens World Series this season.

Hosting the two distinct tournaments within the event has occasioned some modifications to the schedule timing to
accommodate the 28 participating teams and the final of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Women’s Sevens, traditionally played on the Friday evening of the Hong Kong Sevens.

This year’s opening day on Friday will see two rounds of qualification pool matches played alongside the opening pool matches of the HSBC SWS core competition in Hong Kong (one match per core team). Gates will be opened earlier to accommodate the 71 matches played over the weekend.

On Friday, the gates will open one hour earlier at 11am with the first kick-off at 1pm. The opening day’s competition will finish at 9pm. Saturday sees the world’s best rugby sevens action taking place from 7am (first kick-off at 9am) until 7:30pm while Sunday’s match action will kick-off at 9:30am (gates open at 7am) to allow additional time for a special celebration of 40 years of sevens rugby in Hong Kong.

The total of 28 teams participating in Hong Kong over the event weekend is nearly double that of other HSBC Sevens World Series tournaments in the current season.

Factoring in the 12 international women’s teams taking part in the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Women’s Sevens and dozens of club and representative teams contesting the plethora of social and youth tournaments staged around the city during what is widely known as “Rugby Week”, Hong Kong will be welcoming the rugby world once again to the city in 2015.

 

欖球運動 無界限

七人橄欖球是橄欖球運動的新興玩法,時間更短、節奏更快、分數更高、規則更少,因而比傳統的15人橄欖球更受歡迎。香港國際七人欖球賽於1976年由香港欖球總會舉辦,如今已是最重要的國際性七人欖球賽事,今年適逢40週年慶。1999年,香港國際七人欖球賽成為了匯豐國際七人欖球巡迴賽的其中一站。

迄今,香港是國際七人欖球巡迴賽諸站中唯一有多達28支隊伍參與的賽事,同時也提供最高金額的總獎金(150,000 美元)。香港欖球總會是唯一一個兩度舉辦七人欖球世界盃(1997與2005年)的欖球理事機構。

大賽概況

由12支隊伍參加的外圍賽(即資格賽)將伴隨主隊賽事於香港大球場進行。國際橄欖球理事會(World Rugby )的六個地區各有兩支隊伍參賽, 角逐2015/2016賽季的唯一晉級資格,優勝者將取代本屆主賽的末位隊伍,以種籽隊身份競逐下賽季的巡迴賽。

本屆外圍賽的12支隊伍分別來自俄羅斯、西班牙、巴布亞新幾內亞、東加、津巴布韋、突尼西亞、墨西哥、圭亞那、烏拉圭與巴西。東道主香港是2014七人欖球亞洲賽區的冠軍,將同韓國一起作為亞洲代表隊參與外圍賽。2013賽季的亞洲冠軍日本隊榮膺2014外圍賽之冠,將作為種籽隊參與本賽季的主隊賽事。

為期三日、總共多達28支隊伍參加的比賽將於週五開鑼,賽程安排十分緊湊。週五將舉行兩輪外圍賽小組賽及首場主賽小組賽,入場時間將提前至上午11時,而激動人心的比賽則將於下午1時至9時進行。週六入場時間為早晨7時,比賽時間為上午9時至下午7時半;週日早上7時入場,9時半開始比賽,並將舉辦香港七人欖球賽40週年的特別慶典。

在這個萬眾狂歡、緊張刺激的「欖球週」,我們還將迎來由12支國際女子橄欖球隊參與的國泰航空/匯豐香港女子七人欖球賽,幾十間俱樂部與代表隊也將在各類社區賽與青少年欖球賽中一決高低。2015欖球熱必將燃遍全城。