With the 2010 Hong Kong Sevens fast approaching, it is rather disheartening that the South African Sevens team is showing such poor form.  When asked in a recent interview with irb.com about their objective for this season, Springbok coach Paul Treu answered that they’re would like to WIN the Hong Kong Sevens (for the first time).

After a great start in Pool A of the NZI Sevens in Wellington, where the BlitzBokke beat both World Cup Champions Wales and minnows Nuie, they went on to lose the final pool-game to hosts New Zealand and had to contend with Fiji in the Cup quarter-finals (this morning).

Fiji proved too strong for the South Africans, who lost their fifth consecutive game against the Islanders (5-21).  South Africa then went on to beat Canada in the semi-final of the Plate competition (29-5) to advance to the Plate Final against Australia. 

The band of young Aussies were too spirited for South Africa who failed to capitalise on their opportunities, with the Australian ending as the victors by a narrow margin (22-26).

South Africa took 8 points from Wellington and are currently placed 7th on the 10-team IRB log.

The IRB Sevens World Series now moves on to the US gambling den of Las Vegas next weekend.

Catch all the action on Howzit-HongKong.com’s sister site: BlitzBokke.com

The IRB Sevens World Series resumes in New Zealand this weekend with the NZI Sevens in Wellington.

 For Sevens fans here in Hong Kong the 3rd tournament of the Series starts at a more respectable time (07:45 HK) on both days.  DSTV’s Supersport Channel 1 will show all the games LIVE and you will probably be able to watch it at your nearest watering hole if they open that early.  Delaney’s Irish Bar in Tsim Sha Tsui does and you can catch all the action there while having their popular Irish Breakfast (with black pudding Eish!)

Day 1: 5 February/Day 2: 6 February 2010

The Supersport 1 schedule for Day 1 of the NZI Sevens for South African viewers:

(add 6 hours for HK time)

01:45-03:25 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Games 1 – 4

03:25-04:55 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Games 5 – 8 (SA vs. Nui Game 8)

04:55-06:25 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Games 9 – 12

06:25-07:50 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Games 13 – 16 (SA vs. Wales Game 16)

07:50-09:45 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Games 17 – 20

09:45-11:30 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Games 21 – 24 (SA vs. NZ Game 24)

The Supersport 1 schedule for Day 2 of the NZI Sevens for South African viewers:

01:45-03:30 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Bowl QF

03:30-05:10 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Cup QF

05:10-05:50 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Shield SF

05:50-06:35 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Bowl SF

06:35-07:35 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Plate SF

07:35-08:30 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Cup SF

08:30-09:00 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Shield Final

09:00-09:30 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Bowl Final

09:30-10:00 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Plate Final

10:00-11:00 IRB 7s World Series: New Zealand Sevens – Cup Final

To access this schedule, simply go to BlitzBokke.com and click on BROADCAST TIMES at the top of the page.

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union announced that after yesterday’s successful online ticket sale, the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens is now sold out.  Online and telephone sales opened at 10am (Hong Kong time) on Saturday January 16 and by 3pm the SOLD OUT signs for the 5000 ticket allotment went up.

With strong demand from local and overseas audiences, the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens expects to welcome 120,000 visitors over three days from March 26 – 28, 2010.

As in the past, the HKRFU made 5,000 tickets available to the members of the public who are not directly involved in local rugby. Combined with ticket sales to members of local rugby clubs and other rugby stakeholders fully 75% of the 40,000 event tickets were sold to Hong Kong residents.

Despite the customary delays for ticketing for events of this scale, the ticketing agent system continues to be the most convenient and safe means of distributing tickets to the public.

Mr Warrick Dent, Head of Commercial, Communications & Events for the HKRFU commented on today’s ticket sale saying, “The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union is satisfied that today’s sale proceeded smoothly in light of the high demand. We are pleased to have recorded another sell out and want to thank the Hong Kong community for their continued support. We look forward to another fantastic Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens this March.”

For more information on the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens visit www.hksevens.com

Fiji ended South Africa’s plans for a successful Dubai Sevens title defence when they won a brilliant contest 17-5 at The Sevens rugby stadium in the United Arab Emirates’ city of Dubai earlier today.

South Africa, who raced through the pool stages unbeaten, started the match in great form and was impressive during the opening stages. It was therefore no surprise when Ryno Benjamin scored after a good build up.

Fiji hit back just before the break when star attacker William Ryder dotted down to level the scores at halftime.

They forced the South Africans into errors during an epic second half display, scoring two more tries through Watisoni Votu and Jiuta Lufumailagi to seal a deserved victory. When BlitzBokke speedster Rayno Benjamin knocked on a pass when SA was on the attack, it was virtually game-over for the men in Green & Gold.

Paul Treu, the SA coach, praised the Fijians but added he was pleased with the overall form of his team.

“Fiji is just so dangerous on attack and they forced us into making crucial errors inside our own half. I’m pleased with the intensity and the commitment of the guys. Protection of the ball and taking your chances when it matters, are two crucial elements of Sevens rugby and Fiji was just better on the day,” explained Treu.

New Zealand defeated Kenya 17-14 in their quarter-final clash. England got the better of Argentina to win 17-12 in extra-time, while Samoa beat Australia 28-27.

The Springbok Sevens now face Kenya in the Plate semi-finals later tonight.

The International Rugby Board’s 2009/2010 Sevens World Series kicks off in the desert city of Dubai tomorrow.  Paul Treu and his defending champions have been in the city since last week in order to give them sufficient time to acclimatise and prepare for the first tournament of another long season.  However, the week has already seen veteran Marius Schoeman withdrawing from the side due to injury and Treu has had to bring in new-comer Deon Helberg as cover.

Marius Schoeman is out of the Dubai Sevens (Pic: Dubai Sevens 2008)

Television Schedule

Hong Kong is 4 hours ahead of Dubai and if you’re lucky to have access to South Africa’s Supersport 6 on DSTV, here is the schedule for the weekend (Times stated as South Africa local, add 6 hours for Hong Kong):

Friday December 4, 2009

07:10-08:45   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Games 1 – 4

08:45-10:20   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Games 5 – 8  (SA vs. Wales Game 7)

10:50-12:20   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Games 9 – 12

12:20-13:55   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Games 13 – 16 (SA vs. Arabian Gulf Game 15)

14:25-16:25   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Games 17 – 20

16:25-18:15   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Games 21 – 24 (SA vs. AUS Game 24)

Saturday December 5, 2009

07:10-08:45   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Bowl QF

08:45-10:15   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Cup QF

10:15-11:00   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Shield SF

11:00-11:40   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Bowl SF

11:40-12:35   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Plate SF

(16:20-17:10 CSN  IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Cup SF)

16:20-17:10   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Cup SF

(17:10-17:40 CSN  IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Shield Final)

17:10-17:40   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Shield Final

(17:40-18:10 CSN  IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Bowl Final)

17:40-18:10   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Bowl Final

(18:10-18:40 CSN  IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Plate Final)

18:10-18:40   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Plate Final

(18:40-19:30 CSN  IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Cup Final)

18:40-19:30   SS6   IRB 7s World Series: Dubai Sevens – Cup Final

Read everything about the Springboks’ Dubai and World Series campaign on our sister-website: BlitzBokke.com 

In case you haven’t noticed, the 2009/2010 season of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Sevens World Series kicks off in Dubai in just over a week’s time.  Coach Paul Treu’s Springbok Sevens Team is firmly ensconced in their Dubai hotel in anticipation of their Dubai Title defence. 

If it genuinely passed you by (It better be! Check my angry face!)  don’t be concerned, Howzit-HongKong.com’s sister website BlitzBokke.com is firmly on TOP of things!  Just pop in over at the website for everything you need to know about what’s happening in Dubai and all the other tournaments in the Series.  There are stories about the Bokke’s new playing strip, their new Captain, stories from fans across the world and many more.   

The BlitzBokke is in the favourable position of having to defend their titles in the first two tournaments of the Series: Dubai (5-6 December) and George, South Africa a week later so…

Stay tuned for all the action!

Bokke Bo!

Top Gun se Gat!  Die ouens is WOES en hulle VATTIKAKKIE!

Click HERE to go to BlitzBokke.com

Click HEREto join the BlitzBokke Fanpage on FaceBook.

Howzit Hong Kong! has been down for a while due to site maintenance. It’s a brand-new year (2009 and The Year of the Ox) and we thought a fresh new look will be in order.

You will have noticed that we’re back in a new guise. Hope you like it. It is still being tweaked to make it relevant and useful so if you have any feedback and comments, feel free to Contact Us.

On the old website, we featured Rugby Sevens quite a lot and for a very good reason: Hong Kong hosts the biggest Sevens Tournament on the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series. For this reason, we have started a sister-website to deal with everything Sevens, and in particular the Springbok Sevens Team. You can find it on: BlitzBokke.com

Lastly, this new website format allows you, the reader to interact with what is served to you in terms of articles/posts. Simply click on the Reply or Comments Tab at the bottom of each article and you too can have you say.
Please do that and help make this website a useful resource to all of the South African living in the SAR.

See you around on Howzit HongKong!

PS.
The ‘old’ Howzit HongKong! is still available if you are looking for articles posted before the December Festive Season. You can find it here:

www.howzit-hongkong.com/homepage2.html

Here you can find the links to the Sevens Pages, etc.

These pages will remain available until we’ve ‘absorbed’ them in the ‘new’ Howzit Hong Kong!