My live rugby pedigree is as follows: Scotland v Ireland at Murrayfield (2007) and Wales v Ireland (2013) in the Six Nations, Saracens v Ulster quarter finals at Twickenham (2013) British and Irish Lions v The Hurricanes in Wellington for part of the Lions Tour in New Zealand (2017) and most recently (for me) Japan v Ireland in Shizuoka at the Rugby World Cup 2019- I don’t have a vast live rugby repertoire but I was there when Japan made history and all these matches have something in common – they are all Rugby Union matches with 15 players on each side. I have also only ever watched men play rugby, except for when Eleanor took to the pitch.

Rugby Codes

For the uninitiated- which includes me to some extent, there is Rugby Union (15 players and 8 substitutes) Rugby League (13 players and 4 substitutes), Rugby Sevens (7 players and 5 on the bench), Tag Rugby which unlike the other codes is minimal contact with 7 players aside and teams can be mixed and players remove tags from the opposition and finally (that I know off) touch rugby – but different websites are giving me different insights as to how many players. All of them have their own rules with me understanding more about Rugby Union than the rest of the codes and thankfully as Sevens is a shortened form of Union while the others are shortened versions of League I was able to sound semi knowledgeable Peter, Erin and Ben, the facilitating friends for seeing the SVNs as Peter was able to get early bird tickets.

While we are also on shortened things I should be writing HSBC SVNS. (Sponsorship!)

The Sevens

Each game is made up of 2 halves of 7 minutes (ish). Even after a try has been converted with seconds left on the clock, the game will restart and we have seen tries scored in the additional time that it took in keeping the ball alive rather than kicking it out. Tries that have changed the winner!

The Sevens is also the only rugby code to be in the Olympics and much has been made of Michael Hooper’s debut this weekend for Australia having left the XV Australian squad for a chance to play in the Olympics. We haven’t seen Antoine DuPont play for France though – again another player who left the XV French squad. Despite him playing in Vancouver and Los Angeles, he hasn’t made it to Hong Kong but the French did ok without him – they came runners up to New Zealand. Australia also need to find form – they came 4th after losing to New Zealand in the semis and then they lost to Ireland.

The game is fast. The seven players are swift and nimble on their feet and adept at side stepping tackles, but one noticeable difference is that players don’t kick the ball nearly as often as their counterparts do over an 80 minute union game. The players tend to keep the ball in hand, but when they do kick the ball down the pitch, the chase is on and the stadium erupts. Referee decisions are quick, scrums don’t collapse and don’t need restarting, the ball quickly leaves a ruck and I read somewhere (can’t remember where to attribute it) that SVNs players are a slimmer version of their union counterparts – and they aren’t wrong- they all need to cover a lot of ground! There are three forwards and four backs and scrums only have three people in them. Yellow cards are for 2 minutes and red carded players take no further part in the match and the other noticeable difference was that conversions are drop kicked – no little sand mountain that Ulsterman and Irish Fly-half David Humphreys use to make or use of a rugby tee. There simply isn’t time.

I had been aware of the HGK SVNS for a while. Pre covid a few of the rugby players in Suzhou would make a trip down and watch it but we never did, but now that HK is on our doorstep and with a two week holiday that we had nothing planned for, we decided to take up Peter’s ability to get early bird tickets. Martin not being a fan of rugby decided not to come, however, the SVNS are so much more than rugby. An additional reason why he isn’t with us, is that he is going to Mauritius to deliver maths training and he wasn’t sure whether the two would coincide at time of booking. Eleanor and I were back on Sunday and he departed on Monday.

We bought 3 day tickets for the extravaganza Friday 5- Sunday 7th April. Martin came over with us on the Thursday night and we stayed on IHG points at the Golden Mile Holiday Inn, then on Friday morning Eleanor and I moved to the W at Kowloon, meeting Peter, Erin and Ben to go on our rugby adventure.

On the mainland Thursday and Friday (4th and 5th April) is Qingming, a national public holiday to honour the dead. A holiday = people travelling.

The Futian train station which normally is quiet on a Tuesday evening or Sunday morning when we travel for netball was busier. I saw more people on the concourse than I usually see at the train station and it meant that on the HK side, we had to queue for e-channel on both the China and HK side. Eleanor with her manual HK immigration was done before Martin and I. However, we were still done in 15 or so minutes. The travel from the mainland combined with a major sporting fixture pushed up prices of hotels so the W while expensive wasn’t the most expensive!

Arrival

Each morning, the rugby minis play. We were never that early to see the games, but as we were arriving at the stadium, the kids and parents were leaving. We got the MTR to Causeway Bay and walked the 10-15 minute walk to the stadium.

We made a rooky error and joined a queue that we shouldn’t have. Someone took pity on us and asked us if we had lanyards as we had joined the “crew” line hence why a ton of people were dressed in Heineken branded gear. We were directed to the proper entrance, had our bags checked and then our QR codes were scanned and we were in. The bag checkers were looking for drinks in bottles and flammable stuff. On the second day, I nearly lost my reusable cup – a cup I had bought the day before at the SVNs. I was incredulous, so she let me keep it. I didn’t have any problem on Day 3. Lady G lost her bug spray on returning after lunch on Day 2 – the morning of Day 2 it had been just fine. (Or the bag just not checked well enough)

The Seating

With two minors (albeit one was in on an adult ticket) we knew we couldn’t sit in The South Stand. This is the stand that is the place to party and the rugby is somewhat secondary. Alcohol can be taken in to the stand, but not in pitchers. In the other stands, on the lower levels, pitchers of alcohol can be bought at the bars or from beer girls.

We made the decision to sit in the West stand on the lower level on Friday. We chose to be under the stand above so that we would be covered and still have a great view of the try line.

On the Saturday morning, we sat more or less in the same place but a bit further back. We had arrived earlier than the Friday but it was a whole lot busier due to it being the weekend.

Friday’s seat was also a great place to view two catastrophic All Blacks non tries. The first the All Black in the try zone passed the ball to his team mate only to find the fingers of an Argentine. When it came back for the scrum, again right by the try line, the same All Black fumbled the ball and an Argentinian player, picked up the ball ran with it the length of the pitch and nearly scored – he didn’t because the scoreline was New Zealand 22-0 Argentina- so in reality not that catastrophic but for those minutes the stands were filled with mounting expectation, roars and cheers and then groans. The emotional rollercoaster for the fans was real!

After Ireland men had sealed their quarter final place, we left the stadium for lunch (more on that later).

On our return for the quarters we headed for the East Stand and an upper level. The South Stand you can see below was packed!

The rugby was just as thrilling, and we got to see Canada score in their quarter final match – but sadly the flag that was bought at the entrance wasn’t needed for the rest of the weekend. Canada lost 5-26 to the Black Ferns. It wasn’t a bad way to go since New Zealand’s Black Ferns were the eventual tournament winners.

Sunday morning, I headed on my own to the East Stand again. I had been warned off the West Stand as that was Eleanor’s domain. It is probably fair to say that Eleanor’s SVNS experience was a lot different to mine. She has been exposed to a lot of things over this weekend, but she has remained responsible and if ever you want a friend that looks out for you – it is Eleanor.

Sitting on my on Sunday was an entirely different ballgame. No longer could you just nip to the loo or get water and ask Erin to keep your seat, suddenly I was responsible and I was carrying two passports in my day-sac. Now I know why a bumbag (fanny pack if you are American) would have been useful. The person beside me, kept three seats free using IKEA bags, I ended up buying another cup as my place holder.

The seats to my left remained empty for the morning. Then early afternoon the family arrived and then left again just before the entertainment started. The seats were taken almost immediately. The seats on my right hand side had a mixture of people in them, but the last set of people were from Australia, which made an interesting seating plan for the 3rd place Men’s cup match. Ireland won.

What made it even more interesting was that the woman of the party of three was the Godmother to the Aussie number 3, Henry Palmer. I don’t think he even played in that match, but as soon as the match had finished the three of them left, and the Aussie that I had been sitting beside asked me to keep the chairs while they went off in hunt for the players. They left their bags, but on advice from the man sitting beside me, the lady took her passports. Hong Kong is safe, but leaving your passports in a bag on your chair is probably not sensible any where in the world! Now having come into the seating area on the upper level, you had to have your bag checked in case you had bottles (bottles of any kind not permitted). And it really didn’t dawn on me until half way through the men’s final – the last match of the weekend, that these three Aussies had not come back and had left their bags unattended. When they did eventually come back I joked about leaving bags unattended! But no one batted an eye.

Ireland or Great Britain

Flags are complicated and contentious – ask anyone from Northern Ireland. The IRFU (Irish Rugby Football Union) is the governing body for rugby for the island of Ireland. Following partition in 1922, the IRFU voted to continue representing the North and the South and in 1925 the flag was designed with the four crests of the “four proud provinces of Ireland” around the IRFU logo. Quote is from Phil Coulter’s “Ireland’s Call” commissioned for the Men’s Rugby Union team for the 1995 Rugby World Cup since around 20% of the team were Ulstermen and the  “Amhrán na bhFiann” was considered inappropriate (nothing is without controversy as there were some supporters who still wanted the Irish anthem sung).

Anyway, I have digressed… back to the present day. I wasn’t going to buy a flag, because none of the flags on offer really identified with me! I knew I was going in to support Ireland but in reality I was going in and supporting rugby. It didn’t matter who was playing, the crowds cheered (and booed) and I cheered and clapped for any team who scored (in the main). I actually didn’t see many of the GBR games, and I didn’t miss much. After this series, GBR’s women are ranked 8th and the men 9th. The men though beat Canada in the rankings match for 11th place on Sunday morning.

The only match that I saw that I kept quiet for, was that of Hong Kong China v China women’s match in the Melrose Claymore Women’s final. China women won. The crowd were vocal.

Melrose Claymore Competition

This was a competition within a competition. It focused on the Asian teams. The men’s competition had Japan, China and the hosts Hong Kong China and in the women’s the teams were Thailand, Hong Kong China and China. Melrose is a nod to the oldest rugby sevens competition in the world dating back to 1883. Ned Haig, a butcher and keen union player realised that the Melrose Rugby Football club was short of funds. He created a fundraiser by reducing the number of players and the time of a match so that multiple rugby matches could be played in the afternoon. Eight teams came to play that day.

The Outfits

Barbies, Kens, Hulk Hogan, Pink Flamingos on heads, Hawaiian shirts, tutus, wigs, bikinis and a myriad of other costumes and accessories were being sported by men, women and children. It is tradition to dress up and while we had three themes decided, only one of them made it to the suitcase as there were various wardrobe fails and purchases didn’t arrive on time. Our Hawaiian theme on the first day was good though. Next level would have been for us all to have had the same fabric. Our other clothing themes we had thought of (sorry Eleanor had thought of) was the gang of Scooby Doo and traditional pirate. But if I am honest I was glad to be in green supporting the team – tshirt and shorts was absolutely fine – and weather appropriate!! I also didn’t feel that we had missed out on anything not dressing up – possibly I might have felt differently if I had been in the South Stand!

The Food (and drink)

Friday lunchtime for me was chicken popcorn and potato wedges for the grand sum of $130HKD (120RMB, £13 or $16 ish). The price paid does not reflect the quality, thankfully we hadn’t gone to the SVNS for its gourmet delights. My cheeseburger and fries on Sunday evening was $230HKD! (212RMB and probably even more painful in Sterling at £23 or nearly $30USD). The cheeseburger was eaten while in a queue for a drink – water! Once I had paid for my reusable cup, there were filling stations throughout the stadium. Only on Sunday did I have to queue.

Getting my reusable cup was a faff in itself. On Friday when I got the cup I paid $80HKD but when I asked for it to be filled with water (I hadn’t quite worked out the free water thing), the bar tender couldn’t work out what I meant and filled it up with beer. When I said I didn’t want beer he looked at me and kept filling. Finally, he got what I wanted, gave me my money back maybe about $45HKD and handed me a cup of water but not in the reusable cup. It was only when I bought a coke for $40 did I get the cup.

We didn’t eat at the stadium all the time and our food tour of HK started at Samsen on Thursday night. Peter had booked as we were a table of 6, but there was still a queue to get in as you can’t book a table if under fewer than 6! It did not disappoint. The house-made roti, the papaya salad and the smokey eggplant and tiger prawn salad were delicious.

Eleanor earned some money afterwards by taking the youngest member of our group back to the hotel, Martin met an old uni friend and Peter, Erin and I went on an explore to COA, a cocktail bar. However, that didn’t have a booking system in place and with a full sign on the door and 55 people on a waitlist, we headed off to Peter’s backup place – Bar Leone on Bridges Street. An East Side Smash for me, combined gin, lime and cucumber garnished with a basil leaf was refreshingly good.

Friday night was a late dinner at 8pm. We all left the stadium at different times, with Eleanor leaving the latest. We met up at Call Me Al, made famous in the last blog post of leaving our M&S shopping there. Apple Maps does no one any navigation favours in HK, nor does sending a location through WeChat and while Eleanor and I both used Google Maps in HK, it wasn’t Eleanor’s friend either. A panicked phone-call from her to me, saw Peter step in and be that calm, reassuring guide that she needed. With my phone being used as a phone and Peter’s phone on maps, he guided her through the streets of Hong Kong to meet us at a junction before heading off for dinner at Yardbird.

Yardbird in Sheung Wan boasts itself as the best yakitori in Hong Kong and in 2021 it achieved a Michelin Star. The chicken, no matter what piece, is succulent, cooked to perfection and leaves you wanting more.

Saturday lunch took advantage of a deal that Peter had seen a couple of weeks ago and for steak loving families was a no brainer. Originally for the five of us, Eleanor ditched us for friends who she had met through netball, despite being a man down, the 3 adults and one child managed our tomahawk at Feather and Bone, just a 10 minute walk from the stadium.

While devouring this, there was rain.

This steak kept me going for dinner as well, others made it to the Cheesecake Factory. I stayed for most of the rugby and then headed back on a very crowded MTR at Causeway Bay.

On Sunday morning Eleanor and I stopped at Pret and bought some sandwiches. Eleanor ate hers then and I took mine and ate them during the rugby.

One of the last conversations I had with the Aussie guy on Sunday night, was the fact that there was a list of restaurants that Peter wanted to eat at. I was then given a recommendation… Arcane. Owned by a mate of his, Shane Osborn. Erin went nuts when I told her about Shane Osborn, a finalist on Netflix’s The Final Table and first Australian to hold two Michelin Stars. I may have just booked a table for one tomorrow night while Eleanor is at netball.

Back to the rugby

Despite having 3 day tickets, work beckoned on Monday for Peter and Erin and so they departed on Sunday. Their tickets were transferred to me and if I was able to sell them then great. It wasn’t until we got to the steps of the Stadium that there was a guy asking for tickets. I sold the two adult and one child ticket and left him trying to find 6 more tickets. Who knows whether he was successful. Tickets had sold out for months, the first time since the pandemic.

The All Blacks and the Black Ferns were successful were in winning the men’s and women’s competitions. They will fly Business Class back to New Zealand before flying out to Singapore a week before the next round 3-5 May.

Eleanor has put her request in to go to the SVNS next year. It won’t be at Hong Kong Stadium next year as the Stadium is being retired after 30 years. Next year it will move to Kai Tak Sports Park with a capacity of 50,000 as opposed to HK Stadium’s 40,000. With air conditioning vents under the seats it will be lovely and cool – especially if you come in a onesie, but already critics wonder how it will affect the party atmosphere not to mention the corporate hospitality that happens. Causeway Bay is centrally located, the new sports park which is where the old airport used to be is not. Only time will tell if this new stadium is a success!