Defending champion Hong Kong China squads off to the races after reveal at Sha Tin\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) men\u2019s and women\u2019s sevens squads selected for the Melrose Claymores competition at the Cathay\/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2026 (17-19 April) were announced today in front of 1,200 spectators at the Parade Ring of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sha Tin Racecourse.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Melrose Claymores are the latest silverware introduced to the Hong Kong Sevens in 2024.\u00a0 This year\u2019s tournament features China, Japan and hosts HKCR in the men\u2019s competition, while the women\u2019s bracket welcomes its first non-Asian competitor in Denmark, who join Thailand and Hong Kong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Twice defending Asian Games gold medallists, the HKCR men\u2019s seven have won the Melrose on every staging but enter this year\u2019s competition with a fresh-faced squad featuring four players making their Hong Kong Sevens debuts, as men\u2019s coach Jevon Groves casts an eye towards the Asian Games in Japan this September.<\/p>\n
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An experienced HKCR Women\u2019s sevens team return six players from last year\u2019s Claymore winning group under captain Chloe Chan, who marks her 26th cap representing Hong Kong China Rugby. Nam Ka Man (48 caps), Chong Ka Yan (40), Melody Li Nim Yan (38), Maggie Au Yeung Sin Yi (34), Stephanie Chan Chor-ki (31) and Vivian Poon Hoi Yan (25) round out the team\u2019s senior leadership group with Shanna Forrest (17), Julia Mibuy Mba Oyana (11) and Micayla Baltazar (8) amongst the programme\u2019s emerging stars. \u00a0<\/p>\n
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Au King To (2 caps) and Haruka Uematsu will make their Hong Kong Sevens debuts for the women\u2019s squad, while Uematsu will mark her first ever appearance for Hong Kong beneath the bright lights of Kai Tak Stadium in front of an expected crowd of over 45,000 spectators per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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With a defence of the gold medal at the Asian Games in Japan on the cards this Autumn for the men, coach Jevon Groves has opted to give a big stage moment to several emerging athletes in the elite rugby sevens programme at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. The four players set to make their Hong Kong Sevens debuts include Julien Bourron (5 caps), Mathew Rickard (4), Blake Elliott (4), and Johnny Esono Mba Oyana (3). Bourron and Rickard have already experienced a taste of the Kai Tak atmosphere after being involved in the HKCR National Games gold medal winning squad last November.<\/p>\n
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Groves spoke about the debutants saying: \u201cThey create an injection of energy and want to prove themselves. We\u2019ve also got a wealth of experience in our forwards, so balancing our youth with that experience and that calmness will be important in getting the performance we want in Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The men\u2019s team will be led by co-captains Seb Brien (38 caps) and James Christie (25 caps), who co-chaired Hong Kong\u2019s successful gold-medal run at the China National Games in November. The squad returns six players from last year\u2019s campaign inside the stadium, including Christie and forward Mike Coverdale, who wins his 54th cap next weekend, extending his run as Hong Kong\u2019s most capped current men\u2019s sevens athlete. Liam Herbert (38 caps), Bryn Phillips (18) and Fong Kit Fung (18) will be called upon to lead a young group of backs. Matteo Avitabile and Rory Stewart Cox make their second Hong Kong Sevens appearances and earn their 6th and 3rd cap respectively.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve looked to balance the team in terms of having enough experience there and also having one eye on what this year means for us in terms of the Asian Games,\u201d said Groves, who represented Wales at the Hong Kong Sevens prior to coming on board as Hong Kong men\u2019s sevens coach.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re trying to build that depth, and it\u2019s a great opportunity for the boys. It\u2019s a chance for them, obviously there is experience missing, but building that depth is particularly important for this year.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Melrose is a massive tournament for us, in terms of how we approach it as a platform to grow our game. We play our main rivals in China and Japan so there\u2019s a performance element to it, but it\u2019s also a great chance to grow the game and use the platform of the Hong Kong Sevens. The players really enjoy visiting schools and open training sessions this time of year and we\u2019ve chatted this week about the players\u2019 memories of Hong Kong. It\u2019s really cool to see things coming full circle with some of the younger boys now playing alongside the players they\u2019ve watched growing up. That\u2019s a really special thing for us as a team, and for the rugby community in Hong Kong,\u201d said Groves.<\/p>\n
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The 23-year old Johnny Esono Mba Oyana will join his 21-year old sibling and women\u2019s sevens team mainstay, Julia, in forming the first siblings pairing selected for a Hong Kong Sevens since Rowan and Lindsay Varty.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Hong Kong China Women\u2019s Head Coach Andy Vilk, who starred for England at the Hong Kong Sevens during their Cup winning run in the early 2000s, looked ahead to the competition saying, \u201cWe are hugely excited. It\u2019s such a unique and just a brilliant time of year. To be able to play in your home tournament and then it happens to be the Hong Kong Sevens, that is pretty unique for the players, and everyone involved. And then to go and represent Hong Kong China in the stadium under the lights is just a fantastic opportunity.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to see how some of those girls go. We\u2019ve got Haruka on debut and then at the other end we\u2019ve got girls towards the 40-50 cap mark, so we\u2019ve got that blend and we want to just see everyone go out there and enjoy it and embrace the pressure,\u201d added Vilk.<\/p>\n
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The Melrose Claymore competition in Hong Kong features trophies donated by Melrose Rugby Football Club in Scotland, hosts of the world\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Hong Kong China women play Denmark on Friday, 17 April, at 18.22 and meet Thailand on Saturday, 18 April, at 14.12, when the local crowds are expected to be at full volume. Denmark plays Thailand at 10.00 on Sunday morning with the Melrose Claymore women\u2019s final on Sunday night at 15.47. The Hong Kong China men\u2019s team play China at 19.38 on Friday evening, and Japan at 15.16 on Saturday.\u00a0 China and Japan play at 10.23 on Sunday with the men\u2019s Melrose Claymore final held at 16.16 on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Cathay\/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens is proud of being an \u201cM\u201d Mark event that helps enhance the image of Hong Kong as Asia\u2019s sports event capital. The \u201cM\u201d Mark awarded by the Major Sports Events Committee, symbolises intense, spectacular and signature events in the territory\u2019s sports calendar.<\/p>\n
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HONG KONG CHINA SEVENS WOMEN<\/p>\n
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PLAYERS\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shanna FORRESTChloe CHAN \u00a9AU YEUNG Sin YiJulia Mibuy MBA OYANANAM Ka ManMicayla BALTAZAR\u00a0LI Nim Yan Melody Blessing\u00a0AU King ToHaruka UEMATSUCHAN Stephanie Chor KiCHONG Ka YanPOON Hoi Yan Vivian\u00a0<\/p>\n
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TEAM MANAGEMENT\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andy VILK – Head Coach<\/p>\n
Robbie FERGUSSON\u00a0– Assistant Coach<\/p>\n
Callum CHIA\u00a0– Physiotherapist<\/p>\n
CHONG Shing Hin\u00a0– S&C Coach<\/p>\n
Mark KOMAR\u00a0– Analyst\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paul JOHN – Team Manager\u00a0<\/p>\n
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HONG KONG CHINA SEVENS MEN<\/p>\n
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PLAYERS<\/p>\n
Michael COVERDALE\u00a0Rory STEWART COX\u00a0\u00a0Juan Esono MBA OYANAJames CHRISTIE \u00a9Matteo AVITABILE\u00a0Matthew RICKARDBlake ELLIOTLiam HERBERT\u00a0Bryn PHILLIPSJulien BOURRON\u00a0Sebastian BRIEN \u00a9\u00a0FONG Kit Fung<\/p>\n
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TEAM MANAGEMENT<\/p>\n
Jevon GROVES – Head Coach<\/p>\n
Peter JERICEVICH – Assistant Coach<\/p>\n
Stephen MUTCH\u00a0– Head of Athletic Performance<\/p>\n
Olivia WITHERS – Physiotherapist<\/p>\n
WONG Tsz Kit\u00a0– S&C Coach\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mark KOMAR\u00a0– Analyst\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tomos HOWELLS\u00a0– Team Manager<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defending champion Hong Kong China squads off to the races after reveal at Sha Tin\u00a0 \u00a0 The Hong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-601911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}