Hong Kong Women's Sevens Explained

Hong Kong Women's 7s
Current Season:	2024 Hong Kong Sevens
Sport:	Rugby sevens
Founded:	1997
Country:	Hong Kong
Champ Season:	2024
Most Champs:	(12 titles)
Related Comps:	Hong Kong Sevens

The Hong Kong Women's Sevens held the first women's international rugby sevens tournament in 1997, and has since become an annual event. The 2020 edition marked the start of a new era for the Hong Kong Women's Sevens. For the first time, the tournament will be an official event in the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.^[1] The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^{[2] [3]}

History

The Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time under chairwoman Maria Allen and at the urging of USA 7s coach, Emil Signes.^{[4] [5]} Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championships. This reached its zenith with 2009's inaugural women's tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens would be included in the Olympics from 2016.

New Zealand representative teams have competed in Hong Kong as early as 1997, winning the competition in 1997 and 1999. In 2000 New Zealand sent its first official Women's Sevens team to the Hong Kong Sevens.^[6]

Past champions

The following are details of all Hong Kong women's international tournaments played since 1997, listed chronologically with the earliest first, with all result details, where known.

Year	Venue	Cup final			Placings
		Winner	Score	Runner-up	Plate	Bowl
1997	Hong Kong Stadium	New Zealand Wild Ducks	43–0
1999	Hong Kong Stadium	New Zealand Wild Ducks	29–0			N/A
2000	Hong Kong Stadium		36–10
2001	Hong Kong Stadium		22–10
2002	Hong Kong Stadium	Aotearoa Maori	14–7			Arabian Gulf
2003	Hong Kong Stadium		27–0
2004	Hong Kong Stadium		10–0
2005	Hong Kong Stadium		19–12
2006	Hong Kong Stadium		19–12
2007	Hong Kong Stadium		10–0
2008	Hong Kong Stadium		21–7
2009	Hong Kong Stadium		24–7
2010	Hong Kong Stadium		28–0
2011	Hong Kong Stadium		28–14
2012	Hong Kong Stadium		15–10
2013	Hong Kong Stadium		29–0
2014	Hong Kong Stadium		24–0
2015	Hong Kong Stadium		19–12
2016	Hong Kong Stadium		14–7
	World Series qualifier	Winner	Score	Runner-up	align=right style="padding-right:0; border-right:0;"	Semi-fi	align=left style="padding-left:0; border-left:0;"	nalists
2017	So Kon Po Recreation Ground		22–10
2018	So Kon Po Recreation Ground		31–14
2019	So Kon Po Recreation Ground		28–19
World Series tournaments in Hong Kong for women's teams were cancelled in 2020^[7] and 2021^[8] due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
	World Sevens Series	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Semi-fi	nalists
2023	Hong Kong Stadium		26–17
2024	Hong Kong Stadium		36–7

Key:

Dark blue line indicates a tournament included in the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.

Notes:

2006

Venue/Date: Hong Kong, 31 March 2006.^[9] (Source Hong Kong Union) Summarised (but with a number of missing games)

Group games

Key to colours in group tables
	Teams that advanced to the Cup
	Teams advanced to the Plate

Group A

Nation	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
Aotearoa Maori New Zealand	2	0	0	45	5
	1	0	0	5	7
	0	0	2	0	38

Source:

• Aotearoa Maori New Zealand 7–5 China
• Aotearoa Maori New Zealand 38–0 Japan U-23
• China beat Japan U-23

Group B

Source:

• Australia ?–? Singapore
• Australia ?–? Sri Lanka
• Singapore ?–? Sri Lanka

POOL C

Nation	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
	2	0	0	105	0
	1	0	1	0	50
	0	0	2	0	55

Source:^[10]

• USA 50–0 Thailand
• USA 55–0 Guam
• Thailand ?–? Guam

POOL D

Source:

• Netherlands ?–? Kazakhstan
• Netherlands ?–? Hong Kong
• Kazakhstan?–? Hong Kong

Classification stages

Cup Quarter-finals

• Aotearoa Maori Zealand 45–0 Netherlands
• Kazakhstan 14–12 China
• Australia 63–? Thailand
• USA 50–0 Singapore

Vase Semi-finals

• Japan U-23 5-? Hong Kong
• Sri Lanka 5-? Guam

Bowl Semi-finals

• Netherlands 14–7 China
• Thailand 5–5 Singapore

Cup Semi-finals

• Aotearoa Maori New Zealand 25–7 Kazakhstan
• Australia 15–0 USA

Spoon Final

• Japan U-23 24–0 Guam

Vase Final

• Hong Kong 26–5 Sri Lanka

Shield Final

• China 50–0 Thailand

Bowl Final

• Netherlands 36–0 Singapore

Plate Final

• USA 31–0 Kazakhstan

Cup Final

• Aotearoa Maori New Zealand 19–12 Australia

See also

• Hong Kong Sevens (men's tournament)

Notes and References

1. World Rugby announces new-look men's and women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019-23 . World Rugby . 13 March 2019 . 29 July 2019.
2. Web site: travelnewsasia. Remaining Rounds of HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 Cancelled. 2021-11-27. asiatraveltips.com.
3. Web site: 2021-08-04. Hong Kong Sevens cancelled for a second straight year. 2021-11-27. Americas Rugby News. en-US.
4. News: Faure. Kevin. 30 April 1996. HK to host women's world sevens. Eastern Express.
5. Web site: Signes. Emil. Boys and Girls Together: A Prehistory of International Women's Sevens and how it may have led to rugby in the Olympics my perspective. 10 June 2014.
6. Web site: New Zealand Rugby Museum – What is Sevens Rugby?. 2021-11-27. rugbymuseum.co.nz. en-US.
7. Web site: New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded. 30 June 2020. World Rugby. 30 June 2020.
8. News: Burke . Burke . World Rugby Sevens Series legs in Hong Kong and Paris cancelled . Inside the Games . 5 August 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210805225835/https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1111282/world-rugby-sevens-series-cancellations . 5 August 2021.
9. Web site: Ngao . Judy . 2006-03-08 . Hong Kong get a local makeover . 2023-09-22 . South China Morning Post . en.
10. Web site: Young . Wendy . 2006-03-31 . Women's National 7's . 2023-09-22 . scrumhalfconnection.com.