Draw made for Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens 2008

Hong Kong was left with a stiff challenge after Sunday's draw for the Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women's 7s Tournament held at King's Park Sports Ground, finding themselves in Pool A with top seed USA and a strong Netherlands side, but will be grateful they avoided a fearsome looking Pool B containing Kazakhstan, Fiji and debutants France.

There was good news for Asian rugby, with Pool C's all-regional look of China, Thailand and Japan ensuring at least one Asian representative in the later stages of the Cup, while Pool D is likely to be a close affair between Canada, Singapore and AGRFU. The tournament is now in its 11th year, and will be held on the 27th and 28th March at So Kon Po Sports Ground.

This year all participating teams are sanctioned by their national unions, a significant step forward in the ongoing development both of the Hong Kong tournament and women's rugby globally. Next year Dubai will host the IRB Rugby Sevens World Cup which will, for the first time, have both a men's and women's competition running side-by-side, and Hong Kong will use a similar format for the Asian Qualification Tournament for the World Cup, which will be hosted there on 4-5 October.

HKRFU Director of Development Ruth Mitchell, helping officiate at the draw, remained upbeat about the Hong Kong team's chances, noting that, "Our Under 20 national programme has gone very well this year, with several of them coming through to bolster the senior squad. The USA will be favourites to top Pool A, but our girls will push them all the way!"

Twelve elite international women’s sevens teams will take part in the 11th anniversary Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens, to be held on Thursday and Friday March 27 and 28, 2008 at So Kon Po Sports Ground across from the Hong Kong Stadium. The Cup final of the Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens  2008 will be played at the Hong Kong Stadium on Friday 28 March (kick-off at 6:42pm) as part of the Cathay Pacific / Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens 2008.

Defending champions, New Zealand’s Aotearoa Maori, are returning with a goal of maintaining New Zealand’s perfect record as tournament champions in each of the ten Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens played to date. Looking to unseat the Kiwis are last year’s Cup finalists Australia and national representative teams from the Arabian Gulf, Canada, China, Fiji, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand and the United States of America. France on its debut at the Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens, and the hosts, the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens Team round out the competitors for 2008.

Now entering its eleventh year, the Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens has grown into one of the top annual fixtures in the women’s rugby world. The tournament is fully supported by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, the Asian Rugby Football Union and the International Rugby Board. For the fifth consecutive year, the Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens is being title sponsored by Cable & Wireless.

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