There will be no Hong Kong Sevens in 2005. Instead, the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) has decided to go ahead only with the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens and shelve its own tournament.
'There will be only one international sevens tournament in 2005. We have decided that Hong Kong cannot support two major sevens tournaments in one year. It would not have been sustainable,' said John Molloy, HKRFU chairman, yesterday.
This decision raises the distinct possibility that the home team could miss out playing in front of their own fans in 2005. International Rugby Board (IRB) tournament director Fraser Neill said recently that Hong Kong might have to qualify for the fourth Rugby World Cup Sevens.
The union's board of directors met on Monday night, where they took the decision to hold the 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens at the end of March in place of the Hong Kong Sevens. There had been hopes in some quarters that the Hong Kong Sevens would be moved to October.
'We are taking the same approach as in 1997 when we hosted the second Rugby World Cup Sevens. In that year we did not have the Hong Kong Sevens,' said Molloy. Hong Kong were given automatic entry that year. The shelving of the 2005 Hong Kong Sevens will also mean that smaller Asian countries will miss out as all 24 teams for the World Cup Sevens will have to qualify - with the only exception being holders New Zealand and possibly hosts Hong Kong.
'We will go with a 24-team tournament again. But we will have to look at the aspect of the host nation qualifying automatically. I wouldn't make a 100 per cent commitment to Hong Kong being automatic qualifiers,' said Neill.
HKRFU executive director Allan Payne said this was an issue which would be raised when IRB officials were in town for the March 28-30 Credit Suisse First Boston Hong Kong Sevens.