Hong Kong gears up for 'fully fledged' Sevens
Excitement is brewing ahead of the Hong Kong Sevens this weekend, which will see the men’s and women’s world rugby series tournaments played at the same time under one roof.  Action is set to kick off on Friday afternoon at the Hong Kong Stadium. The chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union, Chris Brooke, said he’s very excited about what’s in store.  "Yeah it's great! We had a tournament in November and we still had some restrictions at the time, but now it's great to be back without restrictions and have an expanded tournament. We got the men's series and the women's series together for the first time, which is great," he said.  "And some of the things we couldn't do in November with the mini rugby and the youth rugby, we also re-introduced those so it is great to be having a fully fledged Sevens." Max Woodward, captain of the Hong Kong men’s team, says the squad has been training very hard in hope of achieving good results on home soil. "I think a big one for us is just about learning from what we did good and what we did poorly in November. And a big one is just like having the self-belief to go out there and not be intimidated by oppositions that are higher than us and just going for it really,” he said.  The co-captain of the Hong Kong women's team, Natasha Olson-Thorne, said it will be a special moment for women in the sport. "It is a really exciting moment. It's a really special moment as well. I never thought that I would be able to play in the stadium alongside the men in front of friends and family. It's a really special moment to be able to play in front of the home crowd,” she said.  The Hong Kong women’s team will face New Zealand at 2:15pm on Friday, while the men’s squad will play against France at 8:33pm.