Preview | Singapore Sevens

Photo: World Rugby / Martin Seras Lima

A week after a magnificent Hong Kong 7s tournament, the series moves straight on to the next destination. Singapore has been selected as the latest stop of the HSBC World Sevens Series. The Asian island-city state developed into a world-class hot spot for international sport events in recent years, hosting a F1 race as well as several other major sporting events. The Singapore National Stadium, home of this week’s tournament, offers the perfect occasion for a mega-sevens event, accommodating 55,000 fans in a “state of the art” arena.   

WHERE AND WHEN?

The Singapore Sevens take place at the Singapore National Stadium (Capacity 55,000) from Saturday 15th until Sunday 16th of April.  

The matches kick-off on Saturday at 10:00 local time (03:00 UK time) and Sunday 10:30 local time (03:30 UK time). The final is scheduled for 19:38 local time (12:38 UK time).

See the full fixture list here.

WHERE CAN I SEE IT?

In the UK Sky Sports will cover the tournament on all days. For a full TV guide click here, for any other country check out this handy guide.

WHO’S THE FAVOURITE?

With the third tournament win for Fiji at the Hong Kong Sevens last week, they remain the top favourite for all upcoming tournaments. It all looks to become a three-team sprint for the series title between Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa. 

ONE TO WATCH

Despite his countries below-expectation 13th position, Canadian playmaker Nathan Hirayama leads the point scorer table with 257 points after seven rounds. A remarkable achievement for the 28-year old who scores a whopping 6.42 points per game. During the 178 matches he played so far he scored 69 tries.  

WHO’S LEADING?

Fiji were rewarded with a 5-point lead difference to second placed team New Zealand (123) after beating them in the Hong Kong Sevens final. Third-placed South Africa are still in a strong position to go for the series win, but it would require a real setback from Fiji and New Zealand, which is currently rather unrealistic. See the full standings.

Highlights | Hong Kong 7s Day 3

Photo:World Rugby / Martin Seras Lima

For the fourth time in the previous five years Fiji won the Hong Kong Sevens after beating New Zealand 21-7 in the final. New Zealand started well into the match with an early try by PJ Ahki and a conversion through Kaka. However three converted tries by Fiji were enough to bag the third tournament win this season.

The cup win further cements Fiji’s pole position in the series. They are now five points ahead of New Zealand (123) and six points clear of South Africa (122). In fourth position sits Australia with 105 points. The Aussies lost in a dramatic third place play-off final against South Africa 14-12.  

Elsewhere in the competition England beat USA to take the plate, Argentina beat Scotland to the bowl and Russia overcame Canada to lift the plate.

Photo: World Rugby / Martin Seras Lima

The qualifying tournament of the Hong Kong 7s was won in an all Asian final by Japan. The Brave Blossoms beat hosts Hong Kong 14-24 and will become the 16th core team in next year’s season.  Earlier in the semi-finals Hong Kong beat Germany 17-7 and Zimbabwe lost 22-0 against Japan.      

Japan now qualified for the Olympics in Rio as well as next year’s World Sevens Series. Lomano Lemeki who scored a hat trick in the final said afterwards: "We've qualified for the Olympics already and we really didn't want to be going to the Olympics without being on the series next season, so we're delighted to have won here, it means a lot".

Photo: World Rugby / Mike Lee @ KLC Fotos

8000 miles away from Hong Kong the third round of the World Women’s Sevens Series were played in Atlanta.  

Australia took a big step closer to securing the series’ title after beating rivals New Zealand in the final 24-19.Tim Walsh's team now won three successive tournaments and are 14 points ahead of New Zealand (46). England, currently in fourth position beat third-placed Canada 26-14 in the Bronze final. 

The penultimate tournament of the series will be in Langford, Canada next weekend.

Quick Links

Hong Kong 7s | Results

Hong Kong 7s Qualifier | Results

Atlanta 7s | Results

HSBC World Sevens Series | Standings

HSBC Women's Sevens Series | Standings

Highlights | Hong Kong 7s Day 2

Photo: World Rugby

After day two of the Hong Kong 7s, seven of the top eight teams qualified for the Cup quarter-finals tomorrow. New Zealand will play Wales, USA face South Africa, Fiji take on Kenya and England play rivals Australia on Sunday.  In the bowl quarter-finals, France play Korea, Argentina play Russia, Canada face Samoa and Scotland plays against Portugal.

POOL A

New Zealand topped Pool A after a 5-0 win against Kenya and a 28-10 victory over Samoa. Samoa, Kenya and France all finished on five points, but due to points difference Kenya advanced into the last eight. 

POOL B

Despite South Africa’s lost to England on day one, the Blitzbokke regained their form and secured two wins with 81 unanswered points against Russia and Scotland. England beat Scotland 19-0, but just managed to draw against Russia. 

POOL C

USA are in superb form at the moment remaining unbeaten on day two. They beat Argentina 26-14 and Australia 22-7 resulting in a Cup quarter-finals against South Africa. Despite a loss to USA, Australia's 45-7 win over Portugal plus a 28-0 win over Argentina on day one gave them sufficient points to go through into the last eight and face England. 

POOL D

Fiji underlined their incredible strong performance with three out of three wins. Beating Canada on day one, followed by a comfortable 57-0 win against South Korea then went on to overpower Wales 36-10. Wales won 24-10 against Canada and their day one victory over South Korea secured them second place in the Pool and a quarter-final match up with New Zealand. 

---

Hong Kong Sevens Qualifier

Photo: World Rugby

Quick Links

Hong Kong 7s | Results Day 2

Hong Kong 7s | Fixtures Day 3

Hong Kong 7s Qualifier | Results Day 2

Hong Kong 7s Qualifier | Fixtures Day 3

Highlights | Hong Kong 7s Day 1

Photo: World Rugby

England ended the first day of the legendary Hong Kong Sevens with a confidence boosting 21-14 win against South Africa. On day one the teams played the first round of the pool games in front of a huge sell-out crowd:

Hong Kong 7s | Results Day 1

POOL A

SAMOA 0 : 24 KENYA

NEW ZEALAND 19 : 17 FRANCE

POOL B

SCOTLAND 28 : 15 RUSSIA

SOUTH AFRICA 14 : 21 ENGLAND

POOL C

USA 21 : 5 PORTUGAL

AUSTRALIA 28 : 0 ARGENTINA

POOL D

WALES 40 : 14 KOREA

AUSTRALIA 28 : 0 ARGENTINA

Hong Kong 7s Qualifier

Photo: World Rugby

In addition to the World Sevens Series, Hong Kong is also the qualifier-tournament to determine next years' 16th core team. On day one the 12 teams proved once again how tier 2 and tier 3 nations improved in previous years. Zimbabwe, Spain and Japan took the lead in their respective pools but there is still a lot to play for on day two. The second day of the competition kicks-off tomorrow at 9am local time (2am UK time).  

Quick Links

Hong Kong 7s | Results Day 1

Hong Kong 7s | Fixtures Day 2

Hong Kong 7s Qualifier | Results Day 1

Hong Kong 7s Qualifier | Fixtures Day 2

Preview | Hong Kong 7s

Photo: World Rugby

The World Sevens Series stops in Hong Kong this weekend. It is the premier tournament and it doesn’t get much bigger than during the 7th round of the series where so much is at stake. A competition full of global superstars including Sonny Bill Williams, Nick “the Honey Badger” Cummins and even a Superbowl winner awaits 120,000 spectators over the next three days. Parallel to the main competition, 12 teams will determine the 15th core team for the 2016-17 World Series. 

WHERE AND WHEN?

The Hong Kong Sevens take place at the Hong Kong Stadium (Capacity 40,000) in So Kon Po, Hong Kong, from Friday 07th until Sunday 09th of April.  

The matches kick-off on Friday at 18:10 local time (11:10 UK time), Saturday 11:18 local time (04:18 UK time) and Sunday at 09:30 local time (02:30 UK time). 

See the full fixture list here.

WHERE CAN I SEE IT?

In the UK Sky Sports will cover the tournament on all days. For a full TV guide click here, for any other country check out this handy guide.

WHO’S THE FAVOURITE?

Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand are still the dominating teams this season with just a point between each of them. In addition Hong Kong is traditionally a place that favours teams from the southern hemisphere. In the previous five years Fiji won there three times, while rivals New Zealand secured two cups. Therefore a tournament win by any other team then the top-three or Australia who currently sits in fourth position, would be a surprise.   

ONE TO WATCH

Once again this is a weekend with an extremely exciting line-up of world-class players. Much has been written about Superbowl winner Nate Ebner who will start for the USA for the first time this weekend. Ebner is an experienced rugby player but spend most of his sporting career playing American Football for New England Patriots. It will be interesting to see how this transition works which certainly could become a precedent for the future.   

WHO’S LEADING?

It’s close at the top. Fiji (106 points) are just a point in front of South Africa (105) followed by New Zealand (104). The next best team is Australia with 90 points. See the full standings.