The Hong Kong Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the seventh tournament on the World Series calendar. The tournament spans three days, beginning on a Friday and concluding on Sunday. The tournament is organised each year by the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The latest Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is being held on Friday 5 April, Saturday 6 April, Sunday 7 April 2024.
Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.
Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport outside of the Summer Olympics.
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.
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).
Rugby union is not a major sport in Singapore. Singapore is currently ranked 58th in the world and 6th in Asia. As of February 2015, there over 12,000 registered players, with more than 2,000 women playing the sport. There are also 15 formally organised clubs with 4 registered Women's sides.
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 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 Ireland women's national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens and Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics. Unlike the Ireland women's national rugby union team, the sevens team is a professional team with players contracted to the Irish Rugby Football Union.
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 Philippine women's national rugby sevens team, known as the Volcanoes, represents the Philippines in rugby sevens. They played their first international sevens in 2010 at the Asian Championships. They won the 2019 Asia Rugby Women's 7s Trophy Series in Indonesia.
The Belgium women's national rugby sevens team are a national sporting side of Belgium, representing them at Rugby sevens.
The 2019 Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the twentieth edition of Asia's continental sevens tournament. The series was played over three legs in South Korea, China, and Sri Lanka.
The 2021 Asia Rugby Sevens Series was a rugby sevens tournament held in Dubai, 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 event acted as a qualifier for the 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Chile and the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa. Hong Kong and South Korea qualified for both events.
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.
Natasha Shangwe Olson-Thorne is a Hong Kong rugby union player. She represented Hong Kong at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland, it was their first World Cup appearance. She scored Hong Kong's first World Cup try in their match against Wales.
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.
Japan (2023)
