The Hong Kong Sevens is the premier event within the SVNS. It’s been featured yearly because the World Sequence circuit began in 1999 and predates SVNS by 23 years. Previously, it was value additional collection factors. That’s not the case in 2025, however Hong Kong stays a prestigious occasion, drawing among the greatest crowds and tv audiences on the circuit. This yr, the occasion is held on the new 50,000-capacity stadium, Tak Sports activities Park.
The inspiration behind the Hong Kong Sevens got here from tobacco firm govt Ian Gow and Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Soccer Union Tokkie Smith. Gow had attended the Worldwide Event in 1973 to rejoice the centenary of the Scottish Rugby Union. Gow’s concept was to usher in groups from all over the world for a event in Hong Kong; Smith urged sevens can be logistically extra handy.
Cathay Pacific Airways and the Hong Kong Financial institution have been the inaugural sponsors. Ten counties and two invitation groups competed on the first occasion. The ten nations that participated have been Fiji, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tonga, and Malaysia.
Australia was represented by the “Wallaroos” and New Zealand by the “Cantabrians,” who beat the Aussies 24-8 within the ultimate.
Quick ahead to 2025, and the All Blacks and Black Ferns Sevens are the reigning champions. Fiji had gained the lads’s occasion 5 consecutive instances, ending in 2023.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie
Australia was the dominant workforce within the first decade of the event, profitable 5 instances in 1979, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1988. Wallabies legend David Campese performed within the event a dozen instances, and the Ella brothers and 1991 Rugby World Cup winner Simon Poidevin have been amongst different attendees.
Maybe the Aussies’ most dramatic victory on this span was the 1988 triumph. Australia blasted their manner into the ultimate, scoring 132 factors and conceding simply 10. Fiji was dismantled within the semi ultimate however New Zealand would show a lot harder to foil within the ultimate.
Down 12-10 near fulltime, Australia gained a penalty, which was kicked from past 25 metres by Michael Lynagh. Bon Dwyer was the coach of the Australian workforce. He informed Rugby Australia in 2015.
“We understood the sport of Sevens very effectively and we actually had some good gamers our facet. I imply with David Campese and Michael Lynagh within the backline you’re off to begin.
“We deliberate to consistently assault. I feel all the gamers understood their roles but additionally knew easy methods to be robust in defence and easy methods to maintain the ball away from tight conditions.
“The entire workforce appeared to enhance one another on and off the sphere, which gave us an edge over our opponents.”
Remarkably, it took Australia 34 years to win once more. In 2022, Australia surprised Fiji 20-17 within the ultimate to finish Fiji’s 36-match profitable streak. Nathan Lawson scored the profitable strive. Henry Hutchison grabbed a double and received away a “magical” ball to Tim Clements for Australia’s third strive, earlier than Lawson’s matchwinner. Maurice Longbottom was awarded the Leslie Williams participant of the event.
Iconic Attempt to Serevi Magic
Probably the most iconic strive scored within the historical past of the Hong Kong Sevens was in 1990 by Tomasi Cama in Fiji’s breathtaking 22-10 ultimate win over New Zealand.
With the sport hanging within the steadiness, Vesi Rauluni hurled a one-handed cross to Waisale Serevi, who was being closed down by a wall of black jerseys. Serevi reacted instinctively, tipping the ball over his head in a typical case of supreme ingenuity to Noa Nadruku. The longer term rugby league celebrity audaciously flipped the ball between his legs to Tomasi Cama, who outpaced 1987 All Blacks Rugby World Cup winner John Gallagher to the road.
Cama’s son with the identical identify gained the Hong Kong Sevens 3 times as a participant with the All Blacks Sevens, whom he now coaches.
Serevi is probably the most iconic Hong Kong Sevens participant. From 1990 to 1992 he led Fiji to 3 consecutive titles, the primary nation to realize that feat. In 16 event appearances, Serevi featured within the ultimate a dozen instances, profitable 5 championships. He gained the Leslie Williams participant of the event award 3 times..
The 2013 World Rugby Corridor of Fame inductee was additionally the main factors scorer in Fiji’s Rugby World Cup Sevens wins in Hong Kong in 1997 and 2005.
“I misplaced the Hong Kong Sevens in 1989, then in 1990, I achieved my purpose of creating folks comfortable. We gained, it was a public vacation, as a result of we’d gained the most important sevens event on the planet,” Serevi informed The Rugby Journal in 2024.
“With out the Hong Kong Sevens, there can be no Serevi,” he says. “With out the Hong Kong Sevens, there can be no HSBC Sevens collection. With out the Hong Kong Sevens, there can be no Olympic Sevens. It’s all the things.”
Jonah, Cully, Greatness
New Zealand gained 16 consecutive matches and unearthed two real superstars between 1994 and 1996. In 1995 Jonah Lomu obtained the Leslie Williams Award for the Greatest and Fairest Participant. In 1996, Christian Cullen gained the accolade.
New Zealand had misplaced three consecutive finals earlier than 1994 however broke their duck with a 32-20 victory in opposition to Australia.
Adrian Cashmore was the highest factors scorer with 45. Captain Eric Rush scored 5 tries and Dallas Seymour, Jonah Lomu, and Joeli Vidiri mixed for 4 tries every.
In 1995 Lomu was at his rampant finest and would change into the most important celebrity within the sport on the Rugby World Cup. Lomu scored 5 tries and an American soccer cross he did from one facet of the sphere to the opposite was the stuff of legend. Eric Rush once more contributed 5 tries and Glen Osborne scored 59 factors. New Zealand beat Fiji 35-17 within the ultimate.
The 1996 Hong Kong victory with Lomu and Cullen collectively was probably the most dramatic. New Zealand scored a document variety of factors within the event, with Cullen scoring an unbelievable 136 factors (18 tries, 23 conversions). That tally features a document seven tries in a single match in opposition to Sri Lanka. Within the slender victory over Fiji within the ultimate, Cullen didn’t rating a strive however arrange certainly one of two tries for Waisake Masirew (10 tournaments) with a well-known break. The New York Instances reported:
“At one level, with the rating tied 7-7, and 40,000 followers roaring, the acrobatic Fijians had New Zealand pushed again to the tip line. However then 20-year-old Christian Cullen sidestepped three or 4 Fijians and broke unfastened in a slashing run typical of his electrical play all through the weekend earlier than flicking the ball on the midway line to his dashing teammate Waisake Masirew, who put New Zealand in entrance.”
Aotearoa M?ori Sevens Untouchable
New Zealand despatched an official ladies’s workforce to Hong Kong in 2000 and 2001 and gained the event. An unofficial New Zealand Wild Geese outfit had gained tournaments in 1997 and 1999. When funding was minimize in 2002, Aotearoa M?ori, pioneered by Rotorua coach Peter Joseph, crammed the void. Joseph offered his home to lift $64,000 to get the workforce to Hong Kong.
Aotearoa M?ori gained 14 of the 18 tournaments they performed between 2000 and 2012, beating 23 totally different nations with 34 of the 81 ladies to symbolize the facet, both Black Ferns or Black Ferns Sevens representatives. That features legends Selica Winiata and Honey Hireme-Smiler and Aussie Olympic gold medalist Amy Turner.
Between 2002 and 2007, Aotearoa M?ori gained the Hong Kong Sevens six years in a row (33 matches). In 2003, they have been accused of being a workforce constructed on race. Stephanie Mortimer, a blonde from Canterbury, joined the squad. Aotearoa gained, and Mortimer grew to become New Zealand Rugby Girls’s Participant of the 12 months in 2004.
Joseph recalled in 2021: “It was a battle for us yearly, particularly because it received to years three and 4. I feel it grew to become a little bit of a humiliation for them. We weren’t thought of a nationwide workforce, however we have been cleansing up the event. In 2007, the final yr, we went unbeaten 195-0.”
Hong Kong wasn’t included within the ladies’s World Sequence circuit till 2023. The Black Ferns Sevens beat Hong Kong (50-0), Nice Britain (43-0), Canada (46-0), Canada (45-14), Fiji (31-5) and Australia (26-17) en path to the primary title.
Stacey Waaka was named participant of the ultimate in opposition to Australia, scoring two of her tournament-leading eight tries within the ultimate. The Black Ferns scored 39 tries and solely conceded 5 in extending their 2022-23 World Sequence profitable streak to 30 consecutive matches.
Wild Fijian Comeback
Fiji is probably the most profitable Hong Kong Sevens nation with 19 victories in 30 Cup finals.
Maybe their wildest success was in 2013 in opposition to shock first-time finalists Wales.
Wales had overwhelmed main contenders Australia and Kenya to succeed in the decider and stormed to a 19-0 lead, thanks partly to 2 tries from Cory Allen, who later represented Wales on the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Fiji had misplaced Ilai Tinai to the sin bin for a spear sort out on Lee Williams.
Restored to their full complement, Fiji rocketed again in within the second half to prevail 26-19. World Rugby Corridor of Fame inductee Osea Kolinisau scored three tries coming off the substitute bench. His second strive, effortlessly stepping previous three defenders, was poetry in movement, whereas the match winner got here from a fast penalty faucet that caught the Welsh napping.
“We simply had the religion that we might win. I’m pleased with the boys as a result of with out them I might by no means do what I did at the moment,” mentioned Kolinisau afterward.
Kolinisau appeared in a document 62 occasions for Fiji in SVNS and scored 1,272 factors. He now coaches Fiji.
The 2013 event was additionally noteworthy for a live performance by legendary American band The Seaside Boys.
