IRB World Series

Hong Kong celebrated 40 years of Sevens last weekend, March 27-29. The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union can rightly, but quietly, claim the Hong Kong Sevens re-launched the global popularity of the shortened version of the sport. It helped change Sevens from a post-season runabout to a competition requiring the highest levels of fitness in the sport. It laid the platform for Sevens to feature at the Rio Olympics next year: perhaps the greatest legacy of this event.

HONG KONG—Sunday morning (March 29, 2015) at the Hong Kong Sevens begins gently. The crowd is quiet and still dreamy from festivities the night before. The South Stand barely a quarter full. Despite the subdued atmosphere, Sunday Sevens is all about knock-out rugby, and winning finals. At stake today, the honour of qualifying for next year’s Sevens circuit, plus the Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield in the Main competition, and valuable points towards qualification for Rio in 2016.