Hong Kong given rugby 7s world series hope but told to up game for more elite chances
Senior World Rugby figure opens door to city team competing with heavyweights in home 7s, defends controversial circuit changes
Hong Kong could be invited to compete with the big guns in their own flagship Sevens within three years, but the city team have only sporting meritocracy to blame for their current lack of competitive opportunities, according to a senior World Rugby figure.
Following a restructure for the current campaign, Hong Kong’s semi-final elimination from the third-tier HSBC SVNS 3 in January left them with a blank calendar until October’s Asian Games, save for their exhibition Melrose Claymores tournament at last weekend’s Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
“[Progress] goes on performance, and that’s sport, isn’t it?” Sam Pinder, the global governing body’s sevens general manager, told the South China Morning Post. “There’s a pathway there and if they’d won their [semi-final] they would have progressed. The better you perform, the more likely you are to reach the next stages.
“Hong Kong play in the Asian series and the Asian Games, so there are development opportunities.”
The model of eight core teams competing over six regular season tournaments, before they are joined by four sides promoted from the second-tier for a season-ending three-leg world championship, is set in stone until at least the 2028 Olympics.