Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Shows Its Where The World Wants To Play – NZ Does The Double Again

Sunday saw the crowing of both New Zealand women’s and men’s teams as back-to-back champions in 2024, and the last-ever winners at the Hong Kong Stadium of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, but just as importantly, the tournament re-affirmed its status as THE showpiece event on the World Rugby HSBC SVNS circuit.

New Zealand should rightfully be celebrating its double title success (for the second year running) as the three days of the SVNS and Melrose Claymores showed just how competitive Sevens rugby is, but the high drama of the matches and over 100,000 fans that filled the stadium brought a fitting end to the venues tenure of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens after 30 years.

Chris Brooke, Chairman of Hong Kong China Rugby said “It has been a fantastic weekend. Obviously, it is great to have sold out the event, and excellent to welcome so many of our international visitors back to Hong Kong. We fund all of our programmes from the surplus we generate from the Sevens, so it’s absolutely critical for us to have such a successful three days to reinvest into the game in Hong Kong.”

The tournament moves to the new venue, the Kai Tak Sports Park in 2025 and although there is some hesitation from fans, outgoing CEO Robbie McRobbie and Brooke are positive of the move. “We now need to build on all of this for our anticipated move to Kai Tak Sports Park, and our objective to create a bigger and better event that has more for everyone.”

World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said the Hong Kong tournament “the jewel in the crown of sevens”.  “We’ve seen an amazing weekend – Hong Kong is definitely back, and the international fans are really back.

Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024 Results

The New Zealand men, having been dominant all weekend, were pushed to the edge by France (yes without Dupont, showing they were and are a classy side with the maestro). France scored very late to bring the score to 10-7, but the score was deemed after the hooter and thus ended the final game on Sunday night.

New Zealand try scorer Cody Vai said: “I think it’s a bit more special than winning last year. Some of the boys in this team right now have never won a Hong Kong. To win it with them is a better feeling because they’ve been in the team for a while and this was one of their goals and I’m happy to achieve it with them. It’s all in the team. They’re making it easier for me. They do their job, I do my job and its teamwork.”

The title was NZ men’s 13th Hong Kong Sevens title and followed on from the New Zealand women who were dominant in their 36-7 win over the USA which was inspired by a Michaela Blyde hat-trick.

Blyde said of the win, “To come back with back-to-back wins in Hong Kong is really special. We’re really proud of the way we performed today.”

The player of the final, added, “We obviously weren’t impressed or happy with how we performed at the start of the season. We had a lot of things that we needed to work on. There are a lot of teams that are starting to develop their skillset very quickly so for us we just wanted to stay on top of the game by being the best versions of ourselves, doing the simple things right, width-to-width, good accuracy with our passes and to try and be fitter and faster than most teams.”

The NZ women had been beaten by France in pool play and won an enthralling semifinal over fierce rivals Australia 28-14. The Australian had to leave it late to clinch 3rd place in their win over the French – all four sides will be ones to watch in Singapore and at the Paris Olympics.

On the men’s side, the Irish claimed bronze by beating  Australia by 14-5 to close the gap on SVNS log leaders Argentina who were well out of the running in Hong Kong.

The Japanese women also can hail the tournament success after beating Ireland on Sunday morning to claim a 7th place finish but Great Britain beat Brazil 14-5 to cement the eighth spot in the series standings but it will come down to Singapore to determine the 8th overall series place.

All of the results from Hong Kong can be seen here.

Melrose Claymores Tournament 2024

The Melrose Claymores was a huge success this weekend and offered, by some distance, the best atmosphere and loudest reaction from the crowd. From tournament organisers to commercial partners like HSBC and their ambassadors, all plauded the inclusion of the Asian team event over the weekend.

Earlier in the day, the Thai women were full of fight against the Chinese women, but the latter proved too strong winning 24-0. Thailand coach Tom Biggs was full of praise for the tournament and the experience his players received, which will grow their own development.

The same can be said for the China men, who lost to Japan on Sunday morning but made it a tight contest and narrowly lost 26-31.

HKCR women came out first to try and emulate their round 1 pool win over China, but the formidable Chinese proved too strong the second time around and managed to stay in the lead throughout the contest, not that it was ever an easily won game. The crowd did their part in trying to lift the team throughout the physical contest.

The final result of 24-10 will be justification for the Chinese, who fielded many development players who gained invaluable experience at the HKFC 10s and Melrose Claymores this past week, as they march on to the Challenger Series title and potential Olympic qualification.

For the Hong Kong China Rugby women, they will hold their heads high through their performances and more importantly the legacy impact we think they have made. The fan engagement and media coverage were huge – inspiring players of the future in Hong Kong.

Photo Credit: HKCR Melrose Claymores Tournament 2024 – China Women Champions

The HKCR men managed to complete the job in their final with Japan and nailed a 22-10 over their rivals, which was a classy turnaround from the Saturday loss against the same opposition.

The length of time it took all of the players to complete their laps of honour and engagement with fans signing all manner of items was amazing – job done for highlighting Asian rugby.

We joined captain Max Woodward as he walked around the field to take time to meet the fans, one hand on the Claymore and another cupping a beer. With deafening noise, he told us “Sevens is Sevens (reflecting on the turnaround in results against the Japanese). The rub of the green of the kickoff etc We spoke about how to combat their aggressive line speed and how to counter them but it was fantastic.”

On tapping into the energy of the crowd he added, “for me, I don’t know how many times this is going to happen, we spoke about this special tournament all week and we are so lucky to have this tournament and this crowd, you cant not love this.”

Photo Credit: HKCR Melrose Claymores Tournament 2024 – HKCR Men Champions

Singapore SVNS 2024

The results in Hong Kong mean that in both men’s and women’s competitions seven of the eight teams are now confirmed for the HSBC SVNS Grand Final in Madrid.

Ireland, Fiji, France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa join Argentina in the men’s tournament. The USA currently occupy the eighth position and will look to confirm their place at the final regular season round in Singapore.

In the women’s event, USA, Canada, Ireland and Fiji join Australia, New Zealand and France in confirming their places at the Grand Final in Madrid. The eighth and final spot will be decided at the seventh and last regular season round in Singapore, as current eighth-seed Great Britain holds a two-point lead over ninth-seed Brazil.

HSBC SVNS action continues with the final regular season round in Singapore on 3-5 May 2024 where the SVNS League Winners will be crowned – and Rugby Asia 247 will be there!

Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Week 2024

• Grey Weather Didn’t Stop A Colourful Second Day At The Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024
• Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024 & Melrose Claymores Get Off To A Raucous Start
• Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024 Captains Salute Hong Kong Stadium.
• Max Woodward – What Makes Playing In Hong Kong So Special