12 teams confirmed for Hong Kong 7s

In 2015 the tournament will include the hosts, Hong Kong, and eleven national teams from five continents: Argentina, defending champions Canada, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Samoa, Singapore and Tunisia. Argentina and Mexico will be playing in the tournament for the first time. However both have played in the city before, having appeared in the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series qualifiers last September.

“The field looks very strong this year,” said Anna Richards, Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens coach . “We’ve seen several of the teams recently in the qualifiers in Hong Kong and we are of course very familiar with the Asian teams. Canada have got even better over the past year and I think they will return as the tournament favourites, but it will be interesting to see how China have progressed since their Women’s Sevens Series debut in Dubai. I think that was a big step up for them, but they always do well in Hong Kong. As does the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens team, we took the silver medal at the ARFU Asian Sevens series tournament in Hong Kong last summer. The squad is very excited about the competition ahead. The girls love playing at home and it is a great opportunity for them to showcase the improvements we’ve made over the past year,”

Due to a lack of available pitches during Rugby Week in Hong Kong, the tournament will be played at two venues to accommodate the new two-day format, but Richards expressed her excitement about the new format saying, “The Hong Kong Sevens is our showcase event and the move to a two-day tournament makes the competition much more competitive and attractive to the international teams.”

The first day of the tournament, (Thursday Mar 26) will be held at King’s Park while Friday’s (Mar 27) action will be played at the Hong Kong Football Club before moving up to the Hong Kong Stadium for the cup final, which will be played under the lights at the Hong Kong Stadium at 17.42 immediately prior to the men’s Sevens’ opening ceremony.

“The Hong Kong women’s rugby community is delighted to host 11 of the top teams from around the world this March and we look forward to once again showcasing world-class women’s rugby to the 40,000 fans inside the Stadium on Friday night of the men’s Sevens,” said Ms Ruth Mitchell, tournament director for the HKWRS and director of development for the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union.

Canada and China will be the only WSWS core teams competing in Hong Kong , while Asia is well represented with the hosts, China, Japan, Kazakhstan and Singapore all taking part.

“The Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens fills an important place on the international calendar giving teams on the international series the opportunity to prepare for the fourth round in Canada in April, while providing Asia’s top teams with vital exposure to international competition,” said Mitchell. “Closer to home, the tournament involves girls from every level of our women’s rugby community with domestic matches included in the schedule and opportunities for young players to volunteer as team liaison officers, ball girls and runners. We want to ensure that the tournament provides an opportunity for younger players to experience the excitement of sevens and inspires them to stay involved in rugby and take their game to the elite level.”

Meanwhile Hong Kong have been strengthening their pool of players with a talent ID camp that has atttracted athletes from a diverse range of sports – including martial arts, rowing, netball and ice hockey. All in all 80 women took part, from beginners to elite athletes, from around 17 sports, including a wide range of nationalities - British, Russian, Australian, Filipino, Canadian, Singaporean, American, Mexican, Thai and of course local Chinese. They were all drawn to sevens for a number of reasons – friends had told them to come along; because rugby sevens is an Olympic sport; as well as the fact it has elite status at the Hong Kong Sports Institute.This latter is a key factor. Many young girls who wish to purse a sport would also be looking at some sort of security, and becoming part of the rugby programme at the HKSI offers them that.Those selected to return for a one-day camp where they will be introduced more closely to the sport. Those who make it through will join an existing development squad of 25 players, have been training once a week for th past year after they were invited to join the talent ID programme. Anna Richards is looking at the possibility of having these girls training alongside her HKSI athletes as not only will she get a closer look at these raw athletes but her pool of potential international players will be increased.