Hong Kong rugby in delicate balancing act as it hunts Olympic Games, World Cup spots
Men’s team are favourites in the National Games sevens starting on Wednesday while the women’s team will have a harder fight on their hands
Although it would be an exaggeration to say that rugby sevens is fighting for its life, this is a sport in urgent need of care and attention.
World Rugby’s attempt to apply a healing hand this year resulted in the sort of messy outcome that one would expect if a hospital handed its surgical instruments to the porter.
In slashing the number of core World Series teams from 12 to eight and introducing a convoluted and labyrinthine qualifying process for its new World Championships, the global governing body essentially slammed its door in the face of multiple aspiring unions, Hong Kong included.
The changes, which arrived out of the blue, hit some established nations hard, too. Ireland, the feelgood story of men’s sevens over the past decade, were relegated. They duly followed their Great British counterparts in axing their full-time programme.
After the United States’ men also dropped off the elite circuit, veteran player Stephen Tomasin said: “I think the separation between the top teams and the next level of teams is not good for the game. I think the quality of the game is being hurt because of a decision made in the back office.”
Tomasin added that the overhaul was a “knee-jerk reaction” to the huge losses World Rugby have reportedly suffered propping up sevens. While the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens is a crowd-puller, other World Series events draw sparse galleries.
