「國泰/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽」中國香港隊以「Melrose 銀劍賽」迎戰亞洲勁旅 Hong Kong China Rugby take on Asian challengers in Melrose Claymores at Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens

[香港，2024年12月12日]：明年3月28日至30日舉行的「國泰/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽2025」將再次同期舉辦「Melrose 銀劍賽」，中國香港男、女子七人欖球代表隊即將面臨亞洲欖球霸主地位的另一次考驗。

「Melrose 銀劍賽」男子組賽事中，衛冕冠軍中國香港隊將再次與日本隊和中國隊交鋒，而女子組賽事則有中國香港隊迎戰泰國和哈薩克斯坦。

「國泰/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽」自1976年舉辦至今，一直致力支持亞洲欖球運動發展，在2024年賽事期間新增設的「Melrose 銀劍賽」特別邀請了亞洲強隊來港參賽。

首屆賽事的男、女子組冠軍分別由中國香港隊和中國隊奪得，賽事獎盃由蘇格蘭Melrose 欖球會捐贈。此球會是世界上最歷史悠久的七人欖球賽 — 自1883年成立的「Melrose 七人欖球賽」的主辦球會。而作為交換，香港國際七人欖球賽的獎盃將頒發予在Melrose欖球會舉行其中一場七人欖球賽冠軍。

今年四月最後一次在香港大球場舉行的香港國際七人欖球賽中，中國香港男子七人欖球隊成功在「Melrose 銀劍賽」中奪冠，他們將於明年三月在全新的啟德主場館力爭衛冕。

中國香港欖球總會（欖總）較早前在啟德體育園內的啟德青年運動場成功舉辦了一場由中國香港對巴西的15人欖球國際邀請賽，是啟德體育園舉辦的首個國際體育賽事和欖球賽事，東道主以38:17 獲勝。

中國香港七人欖球代表隊將登上香港的新主場，在2025年3月28日至30日，全球最盛大的欖球派對將成為擁有五萬個座位的啟德主場館的開幕活動。

2025年「滙豐七人欖球挑戰者系列賽」也將於3月展開，「國泰/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽」將為港隊一連串緊湊的賽程畫上句號。在挑戰者系列賽的三場賽事中排名前四名的球隊將於5月初赴洛杉磯參加「滙豐SVNS七人欖球系列賽」的升降班附加賽。

中國香港七人欖球隊主教練莊保羅（Paul John）就即將來到的賽程表示：「這絕對是欖球賽程的緊張時刻。港男、女子隊雙雙取得挑戰者系列賽的資格，我們目標達成了。能夠出戰這些世界級賽事，爭取晉級至系列賽，是我們在亞洲賽事中取得的成果。

在六至七星期內有四場比賽，時間安排有點困難，但幸好我們有欖總和香港體育學院的支持，我們有一支人數更多的球隊可供選擇，而且球員之間的競爭也很大，現在要挑選出戰的陣容變得很困難。」

「滙豐七人欖球挑戰者系列賽」的頭兩站賽事將會連續兩星期（3月1日至2日及3月7日至8日）在南非開普敦展開，第三站賽事將緊接「國泰/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽」，於4月11日至12日在波蘭克拉科夫舉行。

對莊保羅來說，「Melrose 銀劍賽」是不容錯過的比賽，他說：「雖然在開普敦和克拉科夫有兩場大賽，但香港的賽事對我們所有人，包括球員和教練們，甚至是外隊來說都是非常重要的。」

首屆「Melrose 銀劍賽」的男子組比賽，港隊在周五的揭幕戰中以19:17擊敗中國隊，但在第二場比賽中以26:14不敵日本隊。其後，日本隊以31:26 擊敗中國隊晉級決賽，但最終以22:12 不敵東道主中國香港隊。

而女子組比賽方面，港隊先與巴黎奧運參賽球隊中國隊上演了一場精彩的賽事，以19:12勝出。這場勝利為港隊打了一支強心針，第二場比賽港隊以28:10擊敗泰國隊，並在決賽再遇中國隊，惜敗24:10。

莊保羅相信這幾場比賽的水平與週末其他比賽的水平相當，2025年的賽事亦將如此，他說：「兩支球隊都打了三場比賽，而『Melrose銀劍賽』的比賽時間也專為我們而設，場內充滿著支持港隊的球迷，氣氛非常好，第一日女子港隊戰勝中國隊也是一場非常特別的勝利。」

「我們很幸運能夠再次舉辦另一場非常精彩的賽事。當男子港隊對陣日本隊和中國隊時，競爭總是激烈的。我們很難去預測賽果，而這正正是賽事引人入勝之處。女子港隊也一樣，與泰國隊的競爭也是旗鼓相當的。泰國隊去年在亞洲系列賽中稍微佔優，但我們也有足夠的能力抵禦她們，並先於她們打進挑戰者系列賽。哈薩克斯坦球員的體型與我們在亞洲常見的不一樣，這支隊伍一向都是我們的勁敵。」

莊帥續說：「隨著香港國際七人欖球賽正式宣布落戶啟德，球隊的每一位都感到越來越興奮。每一位都想被選上，出戰啟德。」

資料及相片來源 : Elite Step Asia Limited / Hong Kong China Rugby

[12 December 2024, Hong Kong]: The Hong Kong China men’s and women’s sevens squads will face another test of Asian rugby supremacy in the Melrose Claymores competition at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2025 (28-30 March).  

Defending champions Hong Kong China men’s sevens will again face rivals Japan and China next March, while the women will play Thailand and Kazakhstan in their Melrose Claymores clash.

The Melrose Claymores was introduced in 2024 as a competition featuring invitational teams from Asia in honour of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens’ role in supporting the development of Asian rugby from its inception in 1976.

China Women and Hong Kong China Men won the inaugural competition, which features trophies donated by Melrose Rugby Football Club in Scotland, hosts of the world’s oldest sevens competition, the Melrose Sevens, founded in 1883. In a reciprocal gesture, the Hong Kong Sevens trophy is on offer to winners of one of the competitions at Melrose. 

After claiming the title in the final Hong Kong Sevens in Causeway Bay last April, the Hong Kong China men’s sevens team will be out to defend the hardware at the new Kai Tak Stadium in 2025. 

Rugby has already been played at Kai Tak with the first international sports event held at the new Youth Sport Ground a 15s test match between Hong Kong China men and Brazil, which the hosts won 38-17.

Now Hong Kong China’s sevens experts will take to the pitch of the main stadium when the world’s greatest sevens extravaganza serves as the opening event of the 50,000-seat stadium from 28-30 March 2025.

The Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens will cap an intense period of play for the Hong Kong China sevens squads with the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 also starting in March. The top four teams advancing from that three-tournament competition will advance to a play-off in May in Los Angeles with a chance to earn promotion to the global HSBC SVNS Series. 

Head Coach of Hong Kong China Sevens, Paul John, spoke about the upcoming calendar saying, “It’s definitely an intense period of rugby. Both our men’s and women’s teams qualified for the Challenger Series, which was our goal; it is a reward for our success in Asia to be able to compete in these global competitions for spaces on the series.

“The timing is a bit tough with four tournaments in six to seven weeks, but we are fortunate that with the support of HKCR and the HKSI we have bigger squads to draw from and that the competition for places in the team is very hard; it is difficult to select squads now.”

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger opens with back-to-back legs in Cape Town South Africa (1-2 and 7-8 March) while the third tournament will be held shortly after the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens on 11-12 April in Krakow, Poland, but for John there is no chance of the Melrose Claymores competition slipping off the radar.

“Even though there are two events in Cape Town and then Krakow after, Hong Kong is such an important event for all of us as players and coaches here – and also for the international teams as well,” said John.

Hong Kong China men battled to victory in last year’s Melrose Claymores, beating China 19-17 in a tense opener on Friday before losing 26-14 to Japan in the second match. Japan beat China 31-26 to reach the final but lost to the hometown heroes Hong Kong China, 22-12.

The women started their tournament with an inspirational win over China – who reached the Paris 2024 Olympic sevens competition, 19-12. That win fuelled self-belief and was followed by a convincing 28-10 victory over Thailand to set-up a rematch in the final against China, which Hong Kong China lost 24-10.

John believes the level of that competition was on par with the rest of the weekend’s offering and will be so again in 2025.

“The last Melrose was excellent for us. Both teams played three games, and the timing of the games meant the crowd was able to get behind us. The atmosphere in the stadium was really special and was marked by a very special win for the women over China on day one.

“We are fortunate to have another really good competition this year. When the men play Japan and China the competition is always intense. It’s difficult now to predict the outcomes here and that is why these games are always so good.

“The women are the same. Our competition with Thailand has been close historically. They had a slight edge on us on the Asian series last year, but we did enough to fend them off and reach the Challenger Series ahead of them. Kazakhstan has always been tough for us with a very physical style that is different to what we usually face in Asia.

“The excitement in the squad is already starting to grow with Kai Tak coming. Everyone wants to be included. Players want to play, and everyone wants to play at Kai Tak,” added John.

Information and photo source : Elite Step Asia Limited / Hong Kong China Rugby