Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens ( named for sponsorship reasons, HSBC / Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sevens ) is the most famous tournament in the IRB Sevens World Series, a series of competitions in the 7- rugby. It is held annually on the last weekend of March in Hong Kong and is organized by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union ( HKRFU ).
24 teams play to win, you will be rewarded with 30 points for the IRB Sevens World Series. In the other tournaments in the series, only 16 teams will compete against each other and the winner will receive 20 points. The total prize money of U.S. $ 150,000 will be paid. Record winner is Fiji with twelve victories.
History
The Hong Kong Sevens in 1976 after a meeting of the President of HKRFU ADC " Tokkie " Smith and the manager of the tobacco company Rothmans Ian Gow launched. Gow's idea was to establish an internationally respected league, which is funded by his employer. On March 28, 1976 for the first time met Clubs from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Japan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Fiji each other in the competition. This was an important step for the former Amateur Rugby Union, since this tournament was one of the first sponsors.
In the next few years the club teams were replaced by national teams, which the Hong Kong Sevens helped to greater popularity. 1994, a year after hosting the first 7- Rugby World Cup, the Hong Kong Stadium was expanded to 40,000 seats, to withstand the audience can sand rank. 1997 was Hong Kong from the second World Cup, when the country was on the Special Administrative Region of China in the same year. Meanwhile, rugby union became a professional sport. In 2000, the IRB Sevens World Series was launched in Hong Kong and the tournament was a fundamental part of this competition series. 2005 it was again a 7- WM.
Winner
- 2006: England England
- 2007: Samoa Samoa
- 2008: New Zealand New Zealand
- 2009: Fiji Fiji
- 2010: Samoa Samoa
- 2011: New Zealand New Zealand
- 2012: Fiji Fiji
- 2013: Fiji Fiji