Hong Kong men begin quest to join 7s elite against Samoa, Tonga, Colombia at HSBC SVNS 3
National Games gold medallists must finish in the top two in eight-team tournament in Dubai to progress to next stage in February
Hong Kong’s men will begin their bid to join the rugby sevens elite with pool games against Samoa, Tonga and Colombia at the HSBC SVNS 3 in Dubai next month.
The National Games gold medallists must win two of those encounters to make the semi-finals in an eight-team tournament that has Belgium, Canada, Italy and Madagascar in Pool B.
Only the finalists will progress to the next stage, HSBC SVNS 2, which will be held in Kenya, Uruguay and Brazil over three weekends in February and March.
Over those weekends, those two teams will take on Kenya, the United States, Germany and Uruguay, with the top four earning the right to compete in the new 12-team HSBC SVNS World Championship Round, which starts with the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in April.
After the disappointment of the Challenger Series in February, when both the men and the women struggled against teams they expected to beat, head coach Jevon Groves said he was “really looking for performances that are a reflection of our preparation leading into the competition”.
“We didn’t show ourselves well in the Challenger Series last [season], and there are a couple of things that we want to put right in terms of being competitive in that regional qualifier tier, and we want a chance to play in more tournaments,” Groves added. “We know that doing well in the division three competition can unlock a couple more tournaments of that high quality.”
