Sir Gordon Tietjens On Taking Chinese Women’s Sevens Rugby To The Next Level

Sir Gordon Tietjens spoke to us at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024, at which the Chinese women were crowned champions of the inaugural Melrose Claymores and lifted the Tradition HKFC 10s title.

Gordon Tietjens is the former coach of the Men’s Samoa rugby sevens and New Zealand men’s national teams and a World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee – he coached the NZ men to multiple World Series and Commonwealth titles as well as a Sevens Rugby World Cup.

We first saw the legendary Sevens rugby coach in Dubai in January 2024 with the Chinese team at the first leg of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger series and had heard all manner of speculation as to what his role with China Rugby Football Association was.

“I’m working in a high-performance role (with CRFA), in other words, helping the coaches, and assisting the players as well in what it takes to be a professional player. It is about the goals and aspirations for China – winning the Challenger Series first and foremost, and we’re doing pretty well.”

“We went to Dubai and Uruguay, and we’ve got to go to Poland next. And then we’ve got an Olympic qualifying tournament as well (in Monaco) and we’d certainly love to be part of that in Paris,” said Tietjens.

The Chinese women beat the HKCR women in the final of the Melrose Claymores 2024 after being beaten by the same opposition in their opening game, they beat Thailand to reach the final.

On Sunday 7th April, the Chinese women had to overcome a hostile partisan crowd in what was a fantastic atmosphere. Just as impressively the women had played as part of the China Five Stars mid-week and won the Cup, beating Chinese compatriots Shandong Rugby Club in the final at the HKFC 10s.

China Five Stars – HKFC 10s 2024 Champions

The Chinese men lost both pool matches against Japan and HKCR as part of the Melrose Claymores and also featured players who also took part in the two-day Tradition HKFC 10s 2024 – with the China Five Stars sides in a tens tournament which was ultra-competitive and physical, never mind the high level of competition.

Tietjens said the week had mainly been about building depth and giving the women’s wider squad experience as both sides look for Olympic qualification and the women look to secure the Challenger Series with a shot of qualifying for the HSBC SVNS Series in Madrid in June 2024.

Tjeitiens told us he is on a six-month contract, with his focus on high performance. The CRFA has had a recent history of hiring and quickly letting coaches go, with the current new Fiji coach one of the casualties, as is the current Women’s Thailand 7s coach, among others.

Among the staff looking after the Chinese 7s women, Tietjens can also count on Rocky Khan who is in the role of Assistant Coach to the Women’s Sevens side. He was the first player of Indian ancestry to represent New Zealand in Sevens when he made his debut in 2013, as well Fa’a Kei, who is a Video Analyst at the Chinese Rugby Football Association and has worked in Hong Kong.

The Success Of The Chinese Womens Sevens Team Over Hong Kong Sevens Week 2024 – Sir Gordon Tietjens

“The pleasing thing about this weekend and week was that we put out a development team – we’ve left our top team back in China. So the girls here, we took them to the HKFC 10s tournament mainly to get their physicality up to the standard of the game. That was great because we ended up winning the tournament, but it lifted their confidence more than anything.”

Sir Gordon Tjetiens – China Five Stars – HKFC 10s 2024

The Five Stars team that won at HKFC was impressive and overcame some serious talent but Tietjens knows they need to build depth to challenge the SVNS Series, if they get there, and to stay up with the new promotion/relegation format.

He also reflected on the surprise loss to Hong Kong China Rugby on Friday night of the Melrose Claynores, although they won the final that counted on Sunday, and on the lessons learned playing tens beforehand.

“They (Chinese women’s players) need to get stronger, have more pace, more exposure around the ruck and the tackles as there’s not as much space, so we had to handle and hold on to the ball for longer periods (against teams playing tens). So that experience in itself, and then going to the Sevens and backing that up, has been pretty tough.

“But you know, they hung in there and played at the Hong Kong stadium, and the opportunities that these girls get are first class for us. You can’t take away that experience.” added Tietjens. “That experience of playing in front of 40-50,000 people is amazing. It was tough against Hong Kong China and with the crowd chanting ‘Hong Kong, Hong Kong’, but they got up after we lost that game and we’ve had another crack at them.”

On the success of introducing the Melrose Claymores, he was full of praise for it being played.

“My first ever tournament that I won as a coach was winning the Melrose Sevens with Bay Of Plenty. So Melrose has got a nice recognised name. I think it’s it’s great for us and Thailand and HKCR, as we’re all in the same pool when we go to Poland (for the Challenger round).

The experience of playing in Hong Kong, well, I only had it once as a player coming through and there will be some good players who never ever experienced playing in Hong Kong. If we can handle it at this level and we can turn it up, then it can only be positive for Chinese Sevens rugby.”

World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024

Photo Credit: HKCR – Claymore Sevens 2024 – China Women beat Thailand

The China women’s team heads to Poland next for the final round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger as Tietjens said, and has been pooled with HKCR and Thailand. The high-performance consultant is positive about going into the event and restated the invaluable experience the team and management gained in Hong Kong.

“Mate it’s awesome. I suppose what’s going to be good about this week is we’ve tried to build depth. We’ve got a good squad of 12 back in China. Bringing them here (the first-choice players) wasn’t going to do anything for us really, we need a strong bench when we’re looking to go to these other  Sevens tournaments. And if you’re going to compete with the best at the World Series and get them there, then you’ve got to provide consistency. You can only do that if you’ve got the players to do that.”

Very regrettably, we also had a short video clip but the file was corrupted, Sir Gordon Tjeitiens spoke so highly of the Asian rugby and women’s rugby growth and that China being in the World SVNS Series would be good for the region and for World Rugby too, with the number of eyeballs in the market and growing the game’s exposure in the region.

Photo Credit: HKCR – Claymore Sevens 2024 – China Women beat HKCR in the final

Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024 – Main News

• Sports Matters North Asia 2024 – Rugby Matters to HSBC (Part 2).
• Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Shows It’s Where The World Wants To Play – NZ Does The Double Again.
• 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