The Sevens is one of Hong Kong's top tourist drawcards, and if you spend a weekend in the thick of it you realise why - it is the city's answer to the Mardi Gras.
Even the players will tell you the unique atmosphere - part carnival, part tournament - brings the best out of them on the pitch, the crowd's energy acting like a dose of sporting Viagra.
Every year the debate recurs - is it the sport or the sideline antics that are the essence of the Sevens?
Former Wallaby Chris 'Buddha' Handy, television commentator and a popular speaker on the after-dinner circuit, is adamant it's not just the players who make the event. The 'X factor' that turns the Sevens into this city's best annual party is 'camaraderie', he insists.
'Nick Farr-Jones, Australian Wallaby captain for the winning World Cup side in 1991, refers to 'the third half' of rugby,' says Handy. 'That's the part after the first half and the second half of the game - the half that's played out by the supporters.
'It's the bit everyone can do. It's about the singing, the dancing, the camaraderie, and the good-looking women, the party and the fun the whole family can join in. When they do so, they enter into the bigger family of rugby.'