The magic moments of the Hong Kong Sevens

The Hong Kong Sevens is the premier tournament in the SVNS. It’s been featured every year since the World Series circuit started in 1999 and predates SVNS by 23 years. Formerly, it was worth extra series points. That’s not the case in 2025, but Hong Kong remains a prestigious event, drawing some of the biggest crowds and television audiences on the circuit. This year, the event is held at the new 50,000-capacity stadium, Tak Sports Park.

The inspiration behind the Hong Kong Sevens came from tobacco company executive Ian Gow and Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Tokkie Smith. Gow had attended the International Tournament in 1973 to celebrate the centenary of the Scottish Rugby Union. Gow’s idea was to bring in teams from around the world for a tournament in Hong Kong; Smith suggested sevens would be logistically more convenient.

Cathay Pacific Airlines and the Hong Kong Bank were the inaugural sponsors. Ten counties and two invitation teams competed at the first event. The 10 countries that participated were Fiji, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tonga, and Malaysia.

Australia was represented by the “Wallaroos” and New Zealand by the “Cantabrians,” who beat the Aussies 24-8 in the final.

Fast forward to 2025, and the All Blacks and Black Ferns Sevens are the reigning champions. Fiji had won the men’s event five consecutive times, ending in 2023.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

Australia was the dominant team in the first decade of the tournament, winning five times in 1979, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1988. Wallabies legend David Campese played in the tournament a dozen times, and the Ella brothers and 1991 Rugby World Cup winner Simon Poidevin were among other attendees.

Perhaps the Aussies’ most dramatic victory in this span was the 1988 triumph. Australia blasted their way into the final, scoring 132 points and conceding just 10. Fiji was dismantled in the semi final but New Zealand would prove much tougher to foil in the final.

Down 12-10 close to fulltime, Australia won a penalty, which was kicked from beyond 25 metres by Michael Lynagh. Bon Dwyer was the coach of the Australian team. He told Rugby Australia in 2015.

“We understood the game of Sevens very well and we certainly had some good players our side. I mean with David Campese and Michael Lynagh in the backline you’re off to a good start.

“We planned to constantly attack. I think all of the players understood their roles but also knew how to be strong in defence and how to keep the ball away from tight situations.

“The whole team seemed to complement each other on and off the field, which gave us an edge over our opponents.”

Remarkably, it took Australia 34 years to win again. In 2022, Australia stunned Fiji 20-17 in the final to end Fiji’s 36-match winning streak. Nathan Lawson scored the winning try. Henry Hutchison grabbed a double and got away a “magical” ball to Tim Clements for Australia’s third try, before Lawson’s matchwinner. Maurice Longbottom was awarded the Leslie Williams player of the tournament.

Iconic Try and Serevi Magic

The most iconic try scored in the history of the Hong Kong Sevens was in 1990 by Tomasi Cama in Fiji’s breathtaking 22-10 final win over New Zealand.

With the game hanging in the balance, Vesi Rauluni hurled a one-handed pass to Waisale Serevi, who was being closed down by a wall of black jerseys. Serevi reacted instinctively, tipping the ball over his head in a typical case of supreme ingenuity to Noa Nadruku. The future rugby league superstar audaciously flipped the ball between his legs to Tomasi Cama, who outpaced 1987 All Blacks Rugby World Cup winner John Gallagher to the line.

Cama’s son with the same name won the Hong Kong Sevens three times as a player with the All Blacks Sevens, whom he now coaches.

Serevi is the most iconic Hong Kong Sevens player. From 1990 to 1992 he led Fiji to three consecutive titles, the first country to achieve that feat. In 16 tournament appearances, Serevi featured in the final a dozen times, winning five championships. He won the Leslie Williams player of the tournament award three times..

The 2013 World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee was also the leading points scorer in Fiji’s Rugby World Cup Sevens wins in Hong Kong in 1997 and 2005.

“I lost the Hong Kong Sevens in 1989, then in 1990, I achieved my goal of making people happy. We won, it was a public holiday, because we’d won the biggest sevens tournament in the world,” Serevi told The Rugby Journal in 2024.

“Without the Hong Kong Sevens, there would be no Serevi,” he says. “Without the Hong Kong Sevens, there would be no HSBC Sevens series. Without the Hong Kong Sevens, there would be no Olympic Sevens. It’s everything.”

Jonah, Cully, Greatness

New Zealand won 16 consecutive matches and unearthed two genuine superstars between 1994 and 1996. In 1995 Jonah Lomu received the Leslie Williams Award for the Best and Fairest Player. In 1996, Christian Cullen won the accolade.

New Zealand had lost three consecutive finals before 1994 but broke their duck with a 32-20 victory against Australia.

Adrian Cashmore was the top points scorer with 45. Captain Eric Rush scored five tries and Dallas Seymour, Jonah Lomu, and Joeli Vidiri combined for four tries each.

In 1995 Lomu was at his rampant best and would become the biggest superstar in the game at the Rugby World Cup. Lomu scored five tries and an American football pass he did from one side of the field to the other was the stuff of legend. Eric Rush again contributed five tries and Glen Osborne scored 59 points. New Zealand beat Fiji 35-17 in the final.

The 1996 Hong Kong victory with Lomu and Cullen together was the most dramatic. New Zealand scored a record number of points in the tournament, with Cullen scoring an incredible 136 points (18 tries, 23 conversions). That tally includes a record seven tries in a single match against Sri Lanka. In the narrow victory over Fiji in the final, Cullen didn’t score a try but set up one of two tries for Waisake Masirew (10 tournaments) with a famous break. The New York Times reported:

“At one point, with the score tied 7-7, and 40,000 fans roaring, the acrobatic Fijians had New Zealand pushed back to the end line. But then 20-year-old Christian Cullen sidestepped three or four Fijians and broke loose in a slashing run typical of his electric play throughout the weekend before flicking the ball at the halfway line to his speeding teammate Waisake Masirew, who put New Zealand in front.”

Aotearoa M?ori Sevens Untouchable 

New Zealand sent an official women’s team to Hong Kong in 2000 and 2001 and won the tournament. An unofficial New Zealand Wild Ducks outfit had won tournaments in 1997 and 1999. When funding was cut in 2002, Aotearoa M?ori, pioneered by Rotorua coach Peter Joseph, filled the void. Joseph sold his house to raise $64,000 to get the team to Hong Kong.

Aotearoa M?ori won 14 of the 18 tournaments they played between 2000 and 2012, beating 23 different countries with 34 of the 81 women to represent the side, either Black Ferns or Black Ferns Sevens representatives. That includes legends Selica Winiata and Honey Hireme-Smiler and Aussie Olympic gold medalist Amy Turner.

Between 2002 and 2007, Aotearoa M?ori won the Hong Kong Sevens six years in a row (33 matches). In 2003, they were accused of being a team built on race. Stephanie Mortimer, a blonde from Canterbury, joined the squad. Aotearoa won, and Mortimer became New Zealand Rugby Women’s Player of the Year in 2004.

Joseph recalled in 2021: “It was a battle for us every year, especially as it got to years three and four. I think it became a bit of an embarrassment for them. We weren’t considered a national team, but we were cleaning up the tournament. In 2007, the last year, we went unbeaten 195-0.”

Hong Kong wasn’t included in the women’s World Series circuit until 2023. The Black Ferns Sevens beat Hong Kong (50-0), Great Britain (43-0), Canada (46-0), Canada (45-14), Fiji (31-5) and Australia (26-17) en route to the first title.

Stacey Waaka was named player of the final against Australia, scoring two of her tournament-leading eight tries in the final. The Black Ferns scored 39 tries and only conceded five in extending their 2022-23 World Series winning streak to 30 consecutive matches.

Wild Fijian Comeback

Fiji is the most successful Hong Kong Sevens country with 19 victories in 30 Cup finals.

Perhaps their wildest success was in 2013 against surprise first-time finalists Wales.

Wales had beaten leading contenders Australia and Kenya to reach the decider and stormed to a 19-0 lead, thanks in part to two tries from Cory Allen, who later represented Wales at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Fiji had lost Ilai Tinai to the sin bin for a spear tackle on Lee Williams.

Restored to their full complement, Fiji rocketed back in in the second half to prevail 26-19. World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee Osea Kolinisau scored three tries coming off the replacement bench. His second try, effortlessly stepping past three defenders, was poetry in motion, while the match winner came from a quick penalty tap that caught the Welsh napping.

“We just had the faith that we could win. I’m proud of the boys because without them I could never do what I did today,” said Kolinisau afterward.

Kolinisau appeared in a record 62 events for Fiji in SVNS and scored 1,272 points. He now coaches Fiji.

The 2013 tournament was also noteworthy for a concert by legendary American band The Beach Boys.