Organizers of the Cable & Wireless Worldwide Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens 2010 (HKWRS) last week announced the 12 participating teams to compete in this year’s event.
Due to the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup being held in England in September, this year’s tournament field will play host to a mixed roster of highly competitive national teams from around Asia Pacific and some of the women’s rugby world’s most prestigious club and invitational sides.
The 12 participating teams include eight national representative sides from Asia, led by the reigning IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 Bowl Champions China, who recently beat the United States Eagles in a major upset at the Las Vegas Sevens, and Kazakhstan, Asia’s sole direct entry to the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup (15s) this year in London. Other Asian teams include the Arabian Gulf, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and hosts Hong Kong.
The national team of Papua New Guinea rounds out the full representative squads at this year’s tournament. Three of the world’s premier women’s club sides are also taking part including five-time Cup champions Aotearoa Maori from New Zealand. The Aussie Amazons from Australia and Pretoria University’s Tuks from South Africa complete the competitive field.
The Tuks Rugby Club is attached to South Africa’s University of Pretoria and has been in existence for more than a century. It is one of the biggest rugby club in the country with around 55 teams and more than 100 coaches and team managers running the Tuks rugby machine.
The Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens will be played from 07.30am – 06.00pm on Friday, 26 March 2010 at the Hong Kong Football Club. The Cup final will be held at 19.04 during the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Now entering its thirteenth year, the Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens has grown into one of the top annual fixtures in the women’s rugby world. The tournament is fully supported by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, the Asian Rugby Football Union and the International Rugby Board. For the fifth consecutive year, the Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens is being title sponsored by Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
2009 Cable & Wireless HK Women’s Rugby Sevens Cup Finalists Australia (24) vs. China (7)
