Tag: rugby

Olympic Sevens Repechage Draw

Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s rugby 7s teams will soon discover their route to Tokyo. The Olympic Sevens Repechage Draw, the final rugby qualification event for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, will take place on Tuesday, 11 May at 10:00 BST (GMT+1) and will be streamed live on World Rugby’s digital platforms.

Monaco will host the final Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification event on 19-20 June.

Women’s Competition

The women’s competition will see the 12 teams drawn into three pools of four teams. The teams have been banded based on placements in their regional competitions alongside performances in World Rugby tournaments. One team from each band will be drawn into each pool.

Band 1: France, Papua New Guinea, Russia
Band 2: Argentina, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan
Band 3: Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico
Band 4: Madagascar, Samoa, Tunisia

The top two teams in each pool, plus the two third-placed teams with the highest point totals will qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. As there are two Olympic qualification places available for women, the Repechage will feature two rounds of knockout games with the final round featuring four teams competing in two matches where both winners gain Olympic qualification and claim their tickets to Tokyo.

Men’s Competition

For the men’s competition, the 10 teams are drawn into two pools of five teams, including one team from each of the five pre-determined bands.

Band 1: France, Samoa
Band 2: Hong Kong, Ireland
Band 3: Chile, Tonga
Band 4: Uganda, Zimbabwe
Band 5: Jamaica, Mexico

Teams will play against all four opponents in their pools with the top two teams from each pool progressing through to the knockout stages, culminating in the final with the winner booking their place on the plane to Tokyo.

Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Results – 10 April 2021

Women’s Competition 1

HKFC Ice 7-19 Kowloon
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 17:00

Valley Black 41-0 CWB Phoenix
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00

Image: hkrugby

Hong Kong’s Sevens Squads to Train in England

The limitations on competitive sport are impacting on domestic and international competition… So Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s sevens squads will travel to the United Kingdom and Portugal for an extended training camp in May and June.

Training and warm-up matches against international opposition are needed ahead of multiple upcoming tournaments including:

In August the World Rugby Challenger competition for spots on the World Sevens Series.

The 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in September, where Hong Kong’s men’s sevens squad will be the defending champions, after taking Gold in Jakarta in 2018.

Hong Kong’s women finished in fifth place in Jakarta, and hope to improve on that in Hangzhou

The Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa in mid-September. Hong Kong have qualified for every Rugby World Cup Sevens since the inception of the world championship in 1993.

And lastly but by no means least the 45th Hong Kong Sevens in early November, the first international sevens competition to be held in the city in over 3½ years.

Cado Lee Ka Hong Kong Mens Sevens

Hong Kong Rugby Union General Manager of Performance Rugby James Farndon said, “As restrictions tighten in Hong Kong, many of the HKSI’s High Performance Sport Programmes are taking their athletes and coaches overseas to ensure that they can maintain competitive advantage for their respective international competitions.

“Given the importance of our upcoming international tournaments we believe that it is essential for the teams to have optimal preparation including matches against premier international competition. The HKSI’s approach to financially support overseas training camps like this is highly appreciated by the HKRU,” added Farndon.

Training in the United Kingdom also offers the opportunity to enter both teams into two events on the upcoming UK Super Sevens Series, which takes place in May and June across the United Kingdom, and into long-running international sevens warm-up tournaments in Lisbon and the Algarve in Portugal.  These will mark the first international competitions for the teams since November 2021.

The squads will depart on 6 May and will base at Loughborough University, an institution highly regarded for its sports programmes and with excellent training and rehabilitation facilities for the duration of the trip.

Additional reporting, images: HK Rugby

Rugby World Cup France 2023 Tickets Go On Sale

Tickets for Rugby World Cup 2023 will go on sale from 15 March, 2021 at 12:00 CET after the France 2023 organising committee announced details of the tournament’s ticketing programme. A total of 2.6 million tickets will be available for the 10th edition of the men’s event which kicks off on 8 September, 2023.

Tickets will go on sale through a phased process from 15 March, 2021 at tickets.rugbyworldcup.com  – with an exclusive pre-sale period for fans who have registered to join the 2023 Family by 23:59 CET on 13 March. During the ‘pre-sale period’, which runs until 5 April, fans will be able to purchase Follow my Team and City packs on a first-come, first-served basis, which will enable them to choose to attend a team’s pool phase matches or all the pool phase matches at a match venue.

General sales for Follow My Team and City packs will open on 6 April, 2021 at 18:00 CET with packages starting at 58€ for the Toulouse City Pack (Category 4). Ticket-inclusive Official Travel and Hospitality sales will commence on 18 March, 2021.

The ticket launch follows the announcement last week of the match schedule which features an extended pool phase to allow longer recovery periods for the players. Rugby World Cup 2023 will be played across 10 host cities and nine stadiums.

Tickets by Team or by City?

In the ‘pre-sale’ phase from 15 March, tickets will only be sold in two formats, either by city or by team.

The Follow My Team pack includes all four pool matches from a qualified team, with the possibility to add an optional quarter-final should the team makes it to the knockout phase. Twelve Follow My Team packs will be available, one for each qualified nation.

The City Pack includes either three or all pool matches in each of the nine host cities. In the ‘three matches’ format, fans will need to select two fixtures in addition to one compulsory. Only the opening match won’t be available in this format.

In the comprehensive ‘all matches’ City pack, fans will be able to attend all pool matches in the host city of their choice, except for Saint-Denis (Stade de France).

World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont said: “Rugby World Cup France 2023 will showcase the best of rugby and the best of France and we are delighted to launch the tournament’s ticketing programme. Our ambition, in partnership with our friends at the France 2023 organising committee, is to make France 2023 the most accessible tournament to date. This ticketing programme certainly does that. Everyone is invited to join a special celebration of France and 200 years of rugby.”

France 2023 Organising Committee CEO, Claude Atcher added: “With our ticketing programme, we want to make Rugby World Cup 2023 as accessible as possible for everyone and provide the opportunity for French and international fans to attend matches from the best 20 rugby nations in the world. ”

Key Ticket Sales Dates
  • 13 March at 23:59 CET: Registration closes for the 2023 Family
  • 15 March at 12:00 CET: 2023 Family pre-sale opens for City and Team packs
  • 18 March: Launch of Official Travel and Hospitality sales programmes
  • 6 April at 18:00 CET: General sale opens for City and Team Packs
  • 2022: Individual match tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis

Additional reporting and images: World Rugby

World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 Plans Unveiled

World Rugby announced today a condensed World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 schedule which features five women’s and four men’s rounds, with the addition of a further two potential men’s events under discussion.

The 2021 Series kicks off with back-to-back women’s events in Marcoussis, Paris on 15-16 and 22-23 May. The Series will then take a break for the countdown to the Olympic Games and recommence with a men’s event in Singapore on 29-30 October, followed by joint men’s and women’s rounds in Hong Kong on 5-7 November, Dubai on 3-4 December, followed by an exciting climax in Cape Town on 10-12 December.

New Zealand are the reigning champions of both the women’s and men’s Series after being crowned winners of the 2020 edition, which was brought to an early conclusion with five of the eight women’s rounds and six of the 10 men’s rounds successfully completed prior to the onset of the pandemic.

In the men’s Series, Japan will join as a core team following their promotion from the inaugural World Rugby Challenger Series in 2020, while it has been agreed that in this Olympic year, the England, Scotland and Wales teams will combine to compete as ‘GB Sevens’ in both the men’s and women’s Series’ in 2021. This will create two additional invitational places for teams to participate in the men’s 2021 Series events, with invitational teams to be announced in due course.

Olympic Sevens

The Olympic Sevens competition will take place on 26-31 July, 2021 at Tokyo Stadium. To ensure teams are as best prepared as possible for the Tokyo Games a series of high-performance preparation events will take place.

Monaco will host the World Rugby Sevens Repechage, the final qualification event for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, on 19-20 June, 2021. With 21 of the 24 teams already qualified for the Olympic rugby sevens competition, the remaining two women’s and one men’s spots will be determined in Monaco.

World Rugby Interim Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “Today’s announcement of the World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 schedule marks a significant and exciting moment for rugby seven’s re-emergence from the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic and we thank all Series partners for their unwavering support, and host organisations and participating unions for their hard work, patience and spirit of collaboration.”

“As a key driver of game growth, particularly in emerging markets, the continued success of rugby sevens and the Sevens Series is a strategic priority for World Rugby and our US$4 million funding to support sevens programmes is a clear demonstration of our commitment. This unique Olympic year provides a huge opportunity to reach new audiences around the world and introduce them to the speed, skill and excitement of rugby sevens, encouraging them to become future fans of the Series.

Additional reporting and images: World Rugby

Tokyo Olympic Rugby 7s Repechage

World Rugby announced today that the repechage tournament for the Tokyo Olympic Games will take place in Monaco on 19-20 June, 2021.

With 21 of the 24 teams set to compete at the Tokyo Olympics next year already confirmed, the final qualification event will feature 12 women’s and 12 men’s teams all vying to secure the remaining two women’s and one men’s team places at the Olympic rugby sevens in Tokyo, which will take place on 26-31 July, 2021 at Tokyo Stadium.

The women’s competition features Argentina, Colombia, France, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Samoa and Tunisia. 

The men’s tournament will involve Brazil, Chile, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Samoa, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Women’s Rugby Results – 28 November, 2020

Premiership

CWB Phoenix 0-37 Kowloon
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 17:00

USRC Tigers 27-21 Gai Wu Falcons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

HKFC Ice 0-34 Valley Black
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:15

Image: hkrugby