Ask Mr. Know-It-All: What was the first Hong Kong Sevens team like?

Dear Mr. Know-It-All,
What was the first Hong Kong Sevens team like? – Seventy Sixer

The early days of rugby in Hong Kong were western-oriented: players mostly came from the police, army or corporate sphere. It wasn’t until 1993 that a Chinese Hongkonger was capped for the territory. But nonetheless, the very first Hong Kong team to take part in the Rugby Sevens came out on top.

At the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens in 1976, the host team made it through to the final for the Plate trophy, against a strong Tongan side. At full-time, the score was an even 16-16 tie. The game went into extra time and sudden death—and then a penalty from Hong Kong won the match, 19-16.

And who was this winning squad? The team that year was led by Bob Lloyd, Former England international. The Barbarians player and ex-Harlequins FC captain had scored two tries against the All Blacks in his first ever international match. But there’s more to him than rugby fame: Bob Lloyd worked for the government as a civil engineer for 30 years, building our city from the ground up. His sweat and tears really have made this city what it is.

Penalty-winner Ian Duncan worked as a manager at the Hong Kong Hilton at the time. He later became the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Hotel Fiji, where he also coached the Fiji Sevens squad to a crushing 26-0 victory against New Zealand in the 1984 Hong Kong tournament, winning them their first international Sevens title.

Another vital member of that first Sevens tournament was copper Gus Cunningham, who rose to be Chief Superintendent of Police. He retired in 1997 and then dedicated himself to making sure that rugby wouldn’t die out after the handover. Seems like he did pretty well…

One last note about the Sevens squad’s 1976 Plate win. Their victory over Tonga 40 years ago bodes well, given that Hong Kong is going into the 2015 Sevens fresh from last month’s 24-0 win against Tonga in the finals of the inaugural Borneo Sevens. Looks like for once, history is on our side…