Hong Kong to meet England for the first time at the 2006 Hong Kong Sevens

Fifty seven matches of world class seven-a-side rugby will be played in front of a sold out crowd of 40,000 spectators at the Cathay Pacific / Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens in 2006. 

This year’s event opens up with a classic Hong Kong Sevens match-up as iRB Sevens series leader Fiji meet tournament debutants Madagascar at 4:30pm Hong Kong time on Friday, 31 March 2006. 

The Hong Kong team will make its first appearance in the second match, as the hometown heroes face three time Hong Kong Sevens Cup champions, England at 4:52pm. England is in second place on this year’s IRB Sevens championship table.

The match marks the first time that Hong Kong and England have played at the Hong Kong Sevens. The two teams have met three times previously on the IRB Sevens circuit, (in Beijing in 2002 and Singapore in 2004 and 2005), with England emerging victorious from all three encounters. The two teams also met at the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens in Edinburgh in 1993, with England winning 40 – 5. Hong Kong will also play Canada and the United States on Saturday 1 April at 10:52am and 3:44pm respectively. 

Ivan Torpey, Head of Performance for the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union commented on the Friday evening match-up saying, “The squad is excited to meet England for the first time ever at the Hong Kong Sevens. As the opening match of our tournament, it will be a great challenge and will provide us with an opportunity to test ourselves against the one of the tournament. We will have to step up our game without a doubt, but our players are ready for the challenge.”

South Africa, ranked third in the iRB Sevens series, will take on China in Pool C at 5:14pm on Day 1 while New Zealand, who have won every iRB Sevens overall series title since the inception of the iRB Sevens in 1999, open their account against Singapore in the opening match of Pool D at 5:36pm.

Once again the event will provide unique international match, the tournament’s 7th match pits Kenya against Russia at 6:42pm. This global showdown is followed by a North American shoot-out as Canada meets the United States in the 8th game at 7:26pm. The last two matches on Friday night are Australia against Korea at 8:10pm and Samoa versus Italy in the evening’s last game at 8:32pm.

The pool matches continue on day two with some mouthwatering contests for the true rugby fan. Saturday’s tournament play opens at 10:30am with an African challenge between Kenya and Madagascar. Later in the day Fiji will take on the Kenyans at 5:34 followed by England versus Canada at 5:56pm. New Zealand and Scotland face off at 6:40pm, followed by what promises to be a tight contest between France and Australia at 7:02pm. The pool matches conclude with Argentina’s Pool F game against Samoa at 7:24pm on Saturday night.

Day three sees the tournament split into three knockout competitions. The six bottom-placed pool teams after the opening two days will progress to the Bowl quarter finals along with the two lowest ranked third placed teams overall. The remaining third placed teams and the two lowest ranked second placed teams after the pool stages will contest the Plate, while the overall leaders from each pool will take on the two best performing second placed teams overall in the Cup competition.

New Zealand win Gold at Commonwealth Games 

Eleven of the 24 teams participating in Hong Kong were in action at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The Sevens Rugby competition was concluded in Melbourne with a welcome victory for New Zealand, who are entering Hong Kong with their lowest rating ever on the IRB Sevens table. New Zealand beat England, playing in its first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal match in sevens rugby, 29 – 21 to remain the only holders of the Rugby Sevens gold medal from the Commonwealth Games after their victories in Kuala Lumpur (1998) and Manchester, England (2002).

Other teams participating in the upcoming Hong Kong Sevens 2006 also figured in the top places in the Rugby Sevens competition in Melbourne with Fiji beating Australia 24 – 17 to take home the bronze medal. In the Plate final, Wales defeated South Africa by 29 – 28 while Kenya beat Tonga 26 – 12 in the Bowl final.

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