Even the International Rugby Board doesn't know where the road is heading. But let's hope it gives us back our tournament in its entirety next year. The overwhelming view is that splitting the famous event into two distinct competitions will make for a better and more competitive tournament, but is this the best model for the IRB to unearth the three new core teams for next season?
Even the board is not sure as the promotion-relegation system will be looked into after the series ends. So it's not done and dusted that future Hong Kong Sevens will also be a two-tier structure. Thank heavens for that.
You can couch it in words of velvet but the IRB's decision robs the most-famous sevens tournament in the world of its romanticism. IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset hailed the move in the name of 'progress'. He said it would offer every nation the chance to gain core-team status. And he is right. This second-tier tournament has the champions of regional events taking part, and every country will have a chance to become a core team.
Hong Kong Rugby Football Union president Brian Stevenson called it 'globalisation'. He is right, too. As the Hong Kong Sevens has become enmeshed with the HSBC Sevens World Series, we are no longer the big fish swimming in our own pond. We are now part of the shoal in the global ocean.
Hong Kong national coach Dai Rees said it would 'freshen up' the tournament. He is right, too. There will no longer be one-sided matches and every game will be cut-throat. The big 12 know they cannot slip up, while teams like Hong Kong will get more competitive games.
So if everyone is right, what's the problem? Well, no-one wants to admit the big fish has been filleted. By having a two-tier competition, the IRB has hoodwinked the people into thinking the Hong Kong Sevens has been made extra special, the first amongst equals as it were.