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Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens (Chinese: 香港國際七人欖球賽) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the fifth tournament on the World Series calendar and the first leg of the World Championship Series. The tournament spans three days, beginning on a Friday and concluding on Sunday. The tournament is organised each year by the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens 2026 concluded on 19 April 2026 at Kai Tak Stadium.
The season-ending Blarney Stone Sevens had traditionally been a part of the game’s program in Hong Kong, but HKRFU was affiliated to the RFU and internationally the game was controlled by the rugby powers. The Scottish Centenary at Easter 1973 had been a recent international Sevens tournament but to which only the establishment countries were invited. The Hong Kong Sevens became established with the first staging in 1976. It was an original idea of Rodney Bentham-Wood of Rothmans Asia - he wanted a 15 aside tournament but agreed a 7 aside tourney would be cheaper. A great deal of work between Vernon Roberts, Tokkie Smith, Bob Gaff and Mike Pratt and the two main sponsors, initially Rothmans and Cathay Pacific at the time. Over a lunch between Tokkie Smith and Rodney Bentham-Wood of Rothmans, who originally wanted to do a 15 aside tournament, the concept evolved into the 7 aside tournament. Rugby sponsorship was just being introduced and Tokkie ADC Smith, Chairman of HKRFU and worked with Ian Gow of Rothmans Hong Kong to discuss the possibility of a sponsored international rugby tournament in Hong Kong. Tokkie Smith promoted the idea to his President Vernon Roberts and to the Rugby Union Committee but on account of numbers and costs it was decided that any sponsored international tournament would need to be Sevens.
Jock Campbell of Cathay Pacific then offered to sponsor travel and the Committee led by President Vernon Roberts, Chairman Tokkie Smith, Treasurer Bob Gaff and Honorary Secretary Mike Pratt in 1975 made the decision to organize an international Sevens Tournament.
Friendly rugby countries throughout Asia and the Pacific were invited to send teams, creating the multiracial tournament. The founding program announced: Rothmans-Cathay Pacific International Seven-a-Side Championship, 28 March 1976, at the Hong Kong Football Club, and the participating countries as Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, and Tonga with Hong Kong as the Home Team.
In view of the enormous success of the Sevens, the Rugby Union Committee determined to continue annually, and Tokkie Smith, still as Chairman, also managed the expanding tournaments in 1977 and 1978, establishing the series and changing rugby forever.
This was an important step as this was one of the first rugby tournaments that attracted commercial sponsorship. Of the countries represented in the inaugural sevens tournament, only Australia and New Zealand did not send national sides, instead being represented by the Wallaroos and the Cantabrians respectively. These two clubs met in the final where the Cantabrians won 24–8.
The series then grew into a competition with national representative sevens sides competing, and with this growth, the tournament moved to the Hong Kong Stadium in 1982.
The Hong Kong Sevens were ahead of their time, and an influential force in the modernisation of rugby union, for example, the Hong Kong Sevens were one of the first rugby union tournaments to attract major sponsorship, when Cathay Pacific sponsored the 1976 tournament. They also provided a level of cosmopolitan international competition, which tended not to exist in rugby before the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, especially since Hong Kong was not seen as one of the "Big Eight", and other than some involvement with France, the Commonwealth teams tended to be notoriously clannish. By 1986, the Hong Kong Sevens were held up as a positive example to others:
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Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens (Chinese: 香港國際七人欖球賽) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the fifth tournament on the World Series calendar and the first leg of the World Championship Series. The tournament spans three days, beginning on a Friday and concluding on Sunday. The tournament is organised each year by the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens 2026 concluded on 19 April 2026 at Kai Tak Stadium.
The season-ending Blarney Stone Sevens had traditionally been a part of the game’s program in Hong Kong, but HKRFU was affiliated to the RFU and internationally the game was controlled by the rugby powers. The Scottish Centenary at Easter 1973 had been a recent international Sevens tournament but to which only the establishment countries were invited. The Hong Kong Sevens became established with the first staging in 1976. It was an original idea of Rodney Bentham-Wood of Rothmans Asia - he wanted a 15 aside tournament but agreed a 7 aside tourney would be cheaper. A great deal of work between Vernon Roberts, Tokkie Smith, Bob Gaff and Mike Pratt and the two main sponsors, initially Rothmans and Cathay Pacific at the time. Over a lunch between Tokkie Smith and Rodney Bentham-Wood of Rothmans, who originally wanted to do a 15 aside tournament, the concept evolved into the 7 aside tournament. Rugby sponsorship was just being introduced and Tokkie ADC Smith, Chairman of HKRFU and worked with Ian Gow of Rothmans Hong Kong to discuss the possibility of a sponsored international rugby tournament in Hong Kong. Tokkie Smith promoted the idea to his President Vernon Roberts and to the Rugby Union Committee but on account of numbers and costs it was decided that any sponsored international tournament would need to be Sevens.
Jock Campbell of Cathay Pacific then offered to sponsor travel and the Committee led by President Vernon Roberts, Chairman Tokkie Smith, Treasurer Bob Gaff and Honorary Secretary Mike Pratt in 1975 made the decision to organize an international Sevens Tournament.
Friendly rugby countries throughout Asia and the Pacific were invited to send teams, creating the multiracial tournament. The founding program announced: Rothmans-Cathay Pacific International Seven-a-Side Championship, 28 March 1976, at the Hong Kong Football Club, and the participating countries as Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, and Tonga with Hong Kong as the Home Team.
In view of the enormous success of the Sevens, the Rugby Union Committee determined to continue annually, and Tokkie Smith, still as Chairman, also managed the expanding tournaments in 1977 and 1978, establishing the series and changing rugby forever.
This was an important step as this was one of the first rugby tournaments that attracted commercial sponsorship. Of the countries represented in the inaugural sevens tournament, only Australia and New Zealand did not send national sides, instead being represented by the Wallaroos and the Cantabrians respectively. These two clubs met in the final where the Cantabrians won 24–8.
The series then grew into a competition with national representative sevens sides competing, and with this growth, the tournament moved to the Hong Kong Stadium in 1982.
The Hong Kong Sevens were ahead of their time, and an influential force in the modernisation of rugby union, for example, the Hong Kong Sevens were one of the first rugby union tournaments to attract major sponsorship, when Cathay Pacific sponsored the 1976 tournament. They also provided a level of cosmopolitan international competition, which tended not to exist in rugby before the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, especially since Hong Kong was not seen as one of the "Big Eight", and other than some involvement with France, the Commonwealth teams tended to be notoriously clannish. By 1986, the Hong Kong Sevens were held up as a positive example to others: