Upcoming season or competition: 2022 Asia Rugby Sevens Series | |
Sport | Rugby union |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
No. of teams | 12 |
Most recent champion(s) | Japan (2023) |
Most titles | Japan (8 titles) |
The Asia Rugby Sevens Series is an annual series of regional rugby sevens tournaments run by Asia Rugby featuring national sevens teams. It has been held regularly since 2009 to determine Asia's best men's national team in the sport of rugby sevens.
The first season of the competition began in 2009 with two events happening in Shanghai and Borneo. In the first season, Japan took out the trophy after taking out the Borneo Sevens and finishing runner up in Shanghai.
Tournaments that have featured as ranking events in the Asian Sevens Series include:
Host Year | China | Hong Kong | India | Korea | Malaysia | Singapore | Sri Lanka | Thailand | United Arab Emirates | Ranking events |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | Shanghai | Borneo | a Colombo | 2 b | ||||||
2010 | Shanghai | Borneo | 2 | |||||||
2011 | Shanghai | Goa a | Borneo | Bangkok a | 2 | |||||
2012 | Shanghai | Mumbai | Borneo | 3 | ||||||
2013 | Mumbai | Kuala Lumpur | Singapore | Bang Saen | 4 | |||||
2014 | Beijing | Hong Kong | Kuala Lumpur | 3 | ||||||
2015 c | Qingdao | Colombo | Bangkok | 3 | ||||||
2016 | Hong Kong | Incheon | Colombo | 3 | ||||||
2017 | Hong Kong | Incheon | Colombo | 3 | ||||||
2018 | Hong Kong | Incheon | Colombo | 3 | ||||||
2019 | Huizhou | Incheon | Colombo | 3 | ||||||
2020 d (cancelled) | N/A | |||||||||
2021 e | Dubai | 1 | ||||||||
2022 | Incheon | Bangkok | Ajman | 3 | ||||||
2023 | Incheon | Bangkok | 2 | |||||||
2024 | Hangzhou | Incheon | Bangkok | TBC | ||||||
Total | 7 | 4 | 2 (+1) | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 (+1) | 4 (+1) | 2 | 37 (+3) |
Notes:
^a Italics denotes tournaments that are non-ranking events not counting towards the annual series championship.
^b The inaugural 2009 series also included non-ranking events at Kish Island in Iran, Subic in the Philippines, and Brunei .
^c It was originally planned to use the 2015 Asian Sevens Series as the qualifier for the 2016 Olympics but the series clashed with the 2015 Rugby World Cup so a separate Asian Olympic qualifying tournament was held with the final stage hosted in Hong Kong. [1]
^d The 2020 series was cancelled before any events were held, due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
^e Incheon, Huizhou and Colombo were originally scheduled as legs of the 2021 series. [2] Due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three of those events were cancelled and replaced – initially by two events planned for Dubai, [3] but eventually by just one event in Dubai. [4]
Year | Series winner | Runner-up | Refs |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Japan | South Korea | [12] |
2010 | South Korea | Japan | [13] [14] |
2011 | Japan | Hong Kong | [15] |
2012 | Hong Kong | Japan | [16] |
2013 | Japan | Hong Kong | [17] |
2014 | Hong Kong | South Korea | [18] |
2015 | Japan | Hong Kong | [19] |
2016 | Hong Kong | Sri Lanka | |
2017 | Japan | Hong Kong | |
2018 | Japan | Hong Kong | [20] |
2019 | Japan | Hong Kong | |
2020 | Not contested | ||
2021 | Hong Kong | South Korea | [21] |
2022 | Hong Kong | South Korea | [22] |
2023 | Japan | Hong Kong | |
Team | Champion | Runner-up |
---|---|---|
Japan | 8 | 2 |
Hong Kong | 5 | 7 |
South Korea | 1 | 4 |
Sri Lanka | – | 1 |
The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the competition was formed to promote an elite-level of international rugby sevens and develop the game into a viable commercial product. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2014.
The Australia national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens. Australia also competes at other international tournaments for rugby sevens, including at the Commonwealth Games. The current captain of the team is Nick Malouf, and the head coach is John Manenti.
The Singapore Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament contested by national teams. It was first hosted as part of the IRB World Sevens Series in 2002. The Standard Chartered Bank was the original title sponsor. It was effectively replaced in the calendar by the Australian Sevens for the 2006-07 season.
The Tonga national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series. Tonga has participated in all but one of the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournaments.
The United States national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The national sevens team is organized by USA Rugby, and was led by Head Coach Mike Friday from 2014-2024, when he resigned and was replaced by Simon Amor.
Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of World Rugby. Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 36 member unions in countries across Asia, stretching from Kazakhstan to Guam.
Rugby union in China is a growing sport; however, it is still not overly popular. China became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1997 and as of 1 July 2019, its women's XV side was ranked 24th and its men's XV side 80th in the world. Neither the women's team nor the men's team has yet qualified for a Women's Rugby World Cup or a men's Rugby World Cup. However, China has hopes of one day hosting the men's event, and World Rugby has indicated it supports taking the event there.
The Sri Lanka Sevens is an annual international rugby sevens tournament held in Sri Lanka. Sponsored by telecommunications provider Dialog, the event has been part of the Asian Sevens Series since 2015. It was founded in 1999 as the Singer Sri Lankan Airlines Rugby 7s.
The Hong Kong national rugby sevens team is a regular participant in the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The team's greatest achievements include winning the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and winning the Asian Sevens Series in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2022.
The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
The Brunei national rugby union sevens team is the national men's rugby team for Brunei.
The Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series is the regional championship for women's international rugby sevens in Asia. Initially contested as a single tournament, the championship was expanded into a two-tournament series in 2014. The competition is sanctioned and sponsored by Asia Rugby, which is the rugby union governing body for the region.
The Philippines national rugby sevens team is a minor national sevens side. The 2012 Hong Kong Sevens was their first appearance in an IRB Sevens World Series. They were 1 of 4 Asian teams that qualified through regional tournaments to be included in the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens, it is also a qualifying tournament for inclusion in the 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series. After the Philippines won third place against South Korea in the 2012 Singapore Sevens Series, they gained qualification to the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow. The Philippines finished third at the 2018 Asia Rugby Sevens Series, and qualified to the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens World Series qualifier. At the tournament, the team defeated Zimbabwe and advanced to quarter-finals, where they lost to Asian rival Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong women's sevens rugby union team represents Hong Kong at an international level and plays at the Hong Kong Women's Sevens and other international sevens tournaments.
The World Rugby SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held the previous season. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2015.
The Darwin Hottest Sevens, known as the Hottest 7s in the World or the Hottest 7s, is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Darwin, Australia on a weekend in early October. The event is sponsored by Heineken and is hosted by the Northern Territory Rugby Union. The tournament draws club teams and national teams from many countries around the world, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, England, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.
The 2015 Asian Sevens Series was the seventh Asian Sevens Series held by Asia Rugby. The winner and runner-up of the competition gaining entry into the World Series qualifying tournament at the 2016 Hong Kong Sevens.
The 2021 Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series was hosted as two tournament events in the United Arab Emirates in late November 2021. Following the cancellation of the 2020 series due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the twelfth edition of Asia's continental sevens circuit. The first leg of the tournament was a qualifier for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa. Japan and China qualified for the World Cup.
Christy Gunn is a Hong Kong rugby union player. She represented Hong Kong when they debuted at the 2017 Rugby World Cup in Ireland.
The 2022 Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the twenty secondth edition of the tournament. The series was played over three legs in Thailand, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.