Rugby fans can expect festivities around the 2018 HSBC Singapore Rugby 7s to stretch over two weekends next year. This was the exciting news shared by Rugby Singapore at the kick-off press conference for the 2017 edition of the tournament.
“We want to make it bigger, better and more enjoyable and aim to create an iconic event that’s second to none,” explained Low Teo Ping, Chairman of Rugby Singapore and President of Singapore Rugby Union. “Next year, the Singapore 7s will not be held the weekend after Hong Kong 7s due to the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, so there will be a great opportunity to extend the festivities and activities over two weekends. Expect a festival of rugby as never seen before.”
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series made a triumphant return to Singapore last year and this year’s edition will see a colorful array of festivities before the main tournament this weekend.
Starting on Thursday evening, there will be the Midnight 7s for local and overseas participating teams over at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium in the north of Singapore. The tournament takes place late in the evening and goes on through to the early hours of Friday with teams expected to play in fluorescent attire. On Friday, the region’s top national teams will participate in the Southeast Asian 7s over at the Yio Chu Kang, with the finals to be played on Saturday at the National Stadium.
Over at the Marina Bay Floating Platform on Saturday morning, there will be a kids touch rugby tournament. The main event, the HSBC Singapore Rugby 7s starts at 11am on Saturday as the world’s best 16 teams take center-stage and supporters can expect a venue with dedicated sections for different teams, color matched to the teams’ that they support. On Sunday, the Schools 7s Under 14 finals will be played, before the HSBC Singapore 7s winners will be crowned.
In addition to colourful fan festivities, local youth and rugby-playing children will be attending coaching clinics with top teams and legends across the island over the next few days.
Over the next few days, HSBC will be conducting youth coaching clinics with rugby legends like England great Jason Robinson, while this morning, children from Sport Singapore’s SportCares program had a chance to train with Olympic champions Fiji and rugby greats Karl Te Nana and Willy Lose.