News

Preview: Hong Kong Sevens

Thursday 27th March 2008

Let the party begin in Hong Kong!

New Zealand will be going for their fifth straight World Sevens series victory this weekend, as the biggest Sevens event of them all kicks off in Hong Kong.

It will be the fifth straight title for the Kiwis in this series, and actually their seventh in a row - including the final two of last season - and each match won will build on their phenomenal sequence of 36 straight match victories.

But Hong Kong is a bit of a bogey for Gordon Tietjens and his men, with New Zealand not having triumphed there since 2001.

"There's a real hunger in the side to win here this year. We've played very well but Hong Kong is completely different because of its prestige and quite a few of the teams have strengthened, notably Fiji with William Ryder," said Tietjens to the IRB.

"Of my players, none of them have won Hong Kong so that's the real driving challenge for them. Winning Hong Kong would mean everything to us and it would just about complete the World Series defence."

As usual, it is they and Fiji who are top of the favourites list, with Fiji welcoming back William Ryder and Lepani Nabuliwaqa as playmakers for the tournament.

Second-placed South Africa have experience on their side, with an amassed 159 events in their squad of 12, but they face an awkward pool tie with Argentina.

Samoa, in England's group, will be spurred on by the extra motivation of winning on captain Uale Mai's record-breaking 51st Series event. Mai has amassed 921 points, including 94 tries, during his time in the team, making him fourth on the all-time points-scoring list.

England themselves are weaker than usual, at a venue where they won four in a row between 2002 and 2006. Much of their squad - bar record points-scorer Ben Gollings - is from the Under-20 team that recently won a Six Nations Grand Slam.

Kenya, whose achievements become ever more impressive, appear to have a favourable draw, with only Scotland likely to pose problems.

Australia, with David Campese on their coaching staff, have the usual sprinkling of hot prospects in their squad, but will face a strong Tongan side including World Cup star Nili Latu.

Often in the past brothers have played side by side on the Sevens series, most notably all time leading try scorer Santiago Gomez Cora and brother Pablo, but surely never before have there been four sets of twins competing for the same title.

David and Diogo Mateus are two of Portugal's five World Cup players competing in Hong Kong and Robert and James Lewis will also line up together for Wales.

For Japan Kenichi and Shinichi Yokoyama both make their Sevens debuts, while New Zealand's Edwin Cocker could face the prospect of playing against his twin brother John, who lines up alongside World Cup captain Nili Latu for their native Tonga.

Hong Kong pools:

Pool A: New Zealand, USA, Tunisia, Chinese Taipei
Pool B: Samoa, England, Canada, Sri Lanka
Pool C: South Africa, Argentina, Russia, Japan
Pool D: Fiji, Wales, Zimbabwe, Korea
Pool E: Kenya, Scotland, Portugal, China
Pool F: Australia, Tonga, France, Hong Kong

Fixtures:
(Kick-off time is local = GMT +8)

Day One - Friday, 28 March:
Match 1: Australia v Hong Kong, 16.30
Match 2: Kenya v China, 16.52
Match 3: Fiji v Korea, 17.14
Match 4: South Africa v Japan, 17.36
Match 5: Samoa v Sri Lanka, 17.58
Match 6: New Zealand v Chinese, 18.20
Match 7: Tonga v France, 19.10
Match 8: Scotland v Portugal, 19.32
Match 9: Wales v Zimbabwe, 19.54
Match 10: Argentina v Russia, 20.16
Match 11: England v Canada, 20.38
Match 12: USA v Tunisia, 21.00

Day Two - Saturday, 29 March:
Match 13: Tonga v Hong Kong, 10.30
Match 14: Scotland v China, 10.52
Match 15: Wales v Korea, 11.14
Match 16: Argentina v Japan, 11.36
Match 17: England v Sri Lanka, 11.58
Match 18: USA v Chinese Taipei, 12.20
Match 19: Australia v France, 12.42
Match 20: Kenya v Portugal, 13.04
Match 21: Fiji v Zimbabwe, 13.26
Match 22: South Africa v Russia, 13.48
Match 23: Samoa v Canada, 14.10
Match 24: New Zealand v Tunisia, 14.32
Match 25: France v Hong Kong, 14.54
Match 26: Portugal v China, 15.16
Match 27: Zimbabwe v Korea, 15.38
Match 28: Russia v Japan, 16.00
Match 29: Canada v Sri Lanka, 16.22
Match 30: Tunisia v Chinese, 16.44
Match 31: Australia v Tonga, 17.06
Match 32: Kenya v Scotland, 17.28
Match 33: Fiji v Wales, 17.50
Match 34: South Africa v Argentina, 18.12
Match 35: Samoa v England, 18.34
Match 36: New Zealand v USA, 18.56

Day Three - Sunday, 30 March:
Match 37: Bowl quarter-final, 09.45
Match 38: Bowl quarter-final, 10.07
Match 39: Bowl quarter-final, 10.29
Match 40: Bowl quarter-final, 10.51
Match 41: Plate quarter-final, 11.13
Match 42: Plate quarter-final, 11.35
Match 43: Plate quarter-final, 11.57
Match 44: Plate quarter-final, 12.19
Match 45: Cup quarter-final, 12.41
Match 46: Cup quarter-final, 13.03
Match 47: Cup quarter-final, 13.25
Match 48: Cup quarter-final, 13.47
Match 49: Bowl semi-final, 14.48
Match 50: Bowl semi-final, 15.10
Match 51: Plate semi-final, 15.32
Match 52: Plate semi-final, 15.54
Match 53: Cup semi-final, 16.16
Match 54: Cup semi-final, 16.38
Match 55: Bowl Final, 17.25
Match 56: Plate Final, 17.52
Match 57: Cup Final, 18.20