Opinion | What will a Hong Kong Sevens in October look like? Tournament will now end World Rugby Sevens Series season and feature Olympic champions
- The city’s most iconic tournament has been postponed for seven months because of the coronavirus outbreak, presenting both challenges and opportunities
- The tournament will now finish off the 2019-20 season and should feature both Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s squads
When the dust finally settles on the coronavirus, hopefully we can take stock of what we did wrong – and right – in the hope of applying that to the next public health crisis that will surely follow.
Cynics will argue the HKRU should have pulled the plug earlier, but in salvaging a rescheduled event instead of a cancellation, a bullet has been dodged. Now, on the turn of a dime, fans of the city’s most iconic tournament have been offered a rather tantalising alternative – a Hong Kong Sevens in October.
HKRU chief executive Robbie McRobbie is happy with this as a Plan B and why wouldn’t he be? A sevens event in October and then one the following April in 2021 will present a boatload of logistical and planning challenges, but also a realm of possibilities.
“If we were going to be choosing another month to host the Hong Kong Sevens, it would be October,” he said. “The weather is great, it’s a really vibrant time of the year in Hong Kong.”
