Hong Kong Sevens: men’s and women’s squads ‘rolling with it’ as coronavirus shuts down rugby for foreseeable future
- This weekend, the men and women should have been playing on the big stage at the 2020 Hong Kong Sevens
- Now both squads have reverted to individualised training programmes at home to stay in shape
Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s teams should be running out onto the field at Hong Kong Stadium this weekend for the 2020 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
Instead, a global pandemic has wiped the world’s sporting calendar clean for the foreseeable future, leaving athletes, teams, leagues and fans across the planet dealing with an unprecedented pause in action.
The men would have been looking to avenge a heartbreaking loss to Ireland in the 2019 edition where they came within one win of a World Series berth. The women, competing as a special invite, would have used the tournament to gear up for their Olympic qualifying repechage tournament, along with the men, in July in Biarritz, France. This would have been a last-ditch push for both teams to grab the 12th and final spots for Tokyo 2020.
Now World Rugby’s sevens calendar has been pushed to the autumn in the hope the coronavirus is contained enough to resume playing by then.
Women’s sevens head coach Iain Monaghan said perspective is key, and if there ever was a time for rugby to take a back seat, it is now.
