IN Hong Kong in 1976, as at Melrose 93 years earlier, 7s were chosen for logistical reasons: it was a lot easier to bring in twelve 7s teams than twelve 15s teams.

The inspiration behind the Hong Kong Sevens came from Ian Gow and Tokkie Smith; it was Gow’s idea to bring in teams from rugby nations throughout the world for a tournament in Hong Kong; Smith’s suggestion that, logistically, sevens would be a far more workable solution than 15s.

Furthermore, the scope of the proposal was, to begin with, narrowed to Asian and Pacific nations, in contrast to the global approach originally proposed by Gow.

It was just about this time that the commercial world was beginning to take an interest in rugby, and the Hong Kong organisers were certainly fortunate that, from the first, the tournament found committed corporate sponsors, in this case Cathay Pacific Airlines and Rothmans’ Tobacco, the latter eventually replaced by the Hongkong Bank.

Right from the start, all the Asian rugby playing nations were willing and eager to send national teams to Hong Kong: the 10 that participated were Fiji, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tonga, and Malaysia.

Of the countries represented in 1976, Only Australia and New Zealand did not send national teams, being represented by the “Wallaroos” and the “Cantabrians,” respectively. The Cantabrians, a New Zealand club side, won the tournament by defeating the Wallaroos 24-8 in the cup final.

The first Hong Kong 7s also featured separate competitions for the winners and losers of the opening bracket rounds: the top four teams went on to the cup championship, and the bottom eight participated in the plate round. The plate winners of 1976 were the host team Hong Kong, with a 19-16 win over Tonga.

In the second year of the tournament, Australia sent over a team under the national banner (as they have ever since), but New Zealand refused to follow suit: they sent their provincial champion — in 1977 it was Marlborough — instead. Fiji established its reputation in 1977 as not just an exciting team, but a great one as well, defeating both Australia and the New Zealand side, 15-4 and 28-18, to win the championship. Tonga made it an all-island championship year, defeating Indonesia to win the Plate.

In 1978 the list of nations was expanded to 16 as Western Samoa, Bahrain, Papua New Guinea, and the first American representative, Hawaii, were added. Fiji again won the championship by defeating the New Zealand representative, in this case Manawatu.

From 1978 through 1980 the list of teams remained at 16, although additions from outside the Asian/Pacific regions were made, often at the expense of the original participants. Canada was added in 1980, as were the Co-Optimists, representing Scotland. The Co-Optimists were the first representatives of any of the Home Countries, none of whom were willing to send a national side to Hong Kong.

More additions were made in 1981. In order not to lose many of the Asian teams that were the reason for the Hong Kong Sevens’ existence, the field was increased to 20, with the top 16 advancing to either the Cup or the Plate.

1981 marked the first appearance of the American Eagles, a full US national side, at Hong Kong. The Home Countries’ second representative, the Barbarians, also appeared in 1981, when they became — and remain — the only team outside of Australia, Fiji, or New Zealand to win the championship.

In 1982, Hong Kong made the decision not to invite New Zealand unless it sent a national team, which it did not, resulting in no New Zealand representative for the only time in the tournament’s history. By 1983, however, New Zealand was playing in the Hong Kong Sevens as New Zealand. Now only the Home Countries’ arrogant attitude remained to mar the image of the World’s greatest rugby tournament.

By 1984 Hong Kong was ready to expand its tournament yet once again, to 24 teams. There was now a full complement of “invitational sides” from the Home Countries, as Crawshay’s Welsh, the Public School Wanderers, the Irish Wolfhouhds, and the French Barbarians were added, and the British Barbarians returned in 1989. But still no national sides: although all the Home Countries except Ireland had participated in the Sydney Sevens during the 1986-89 period, they were not willing to show the same deference to the non-IRB colony.

Many of the original teams, displaced during the previous years, were re-invited to Hong Kong. Taiwan, unable for political reasons to compete as a nation, was represented by Kwang-Hua Taipei.

In the following years, other European teams such as Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy were added, sometimes at the expense of one of the Home Country teams. They brought an enthusiasm and excitement to the tournament that more than made up for whatever the Home Countries brought in terms of name recognition. In both 1989 and 1990 the Bowl was won by European teams: the Netherlands and West Germany.

New Zealand won its first Hong Kong championship in 1986, a year in which they took the sevens’ world by storm, winning all three international tournaments–Sydney, Hong Kong and Cardiff–by scoring 30 or more points in each of the finals. New Zealand’s commitment to take the 7s’ game as seriously as 15s was to drive the standard of international sevens a notch or two higher.

1986 also saw the inclusion of the first team from a black African nation, Kenya.

In 1987 the Penguins, an invitational side based in London, were added at the last minute after Malaysia suddenly withdrew to protest New Zealand’s inclusion of two All-Blacks that had toured South Africa. The Penguins, consisting of players from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, became the first truly international side to participate in Hong Kong (whether that’s good or bad is debatable), and made it to the semi-finals in both 1987 and 1988.

1990 was a watershed year in that Wales became the first home country to send an official national team to Hong Kong. Despite a scare against the host nation, Wales was rewarded for its decision with an upset victory over 5-time champion Australia. 1990 also marked the return of Fijian dominance, their first victory since 1984.

Fiji continued its dominance until 1993 when Samoa dethroned the Fijians.

The following year New Zealand captured the trophy and kept it secured for two more years until 1997 when the II Sevens World Cup was held in Hong Kong.

An the World Cup in Hong Kong changed hands, Fiji capturing the title beating South Africa in the final 24-21.

Waisale Serevi, the most valuable player and leading scorer (117 points) confirmed his dominance at Hong Kong.

The second Rugby 7s World Cup was a turning point for Fiji which suffered a huge loss of prestige and confidence when it was beaten by England in the semi-finals of the first-ever world cup in 1993. Since that time, Fiji had not won a single Hong Kong 7s, losing three consecutive to New Zealand. Since 1997 Fiji has been invincible at Hong Kong. This year, after a long circuit of 7s tournaments sponsored by the IRB, Fiji seems stronger than ever.