The 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament and the first to be held in Hong Kong. It was the last major sporting event to be held in the then British dependency before the transfer of sovereignty to China which took place just three months later. Fiji defeated South Africa 24–21 to take the title for the first time.[1] The final is considered to be one of the best sevens matches of all time.[citation needed]
Participating nations
The twenty four teams were divided into eight pools of three as follows:
| Pool A |
Pool B |
Pool C |
Pool D |
|
Pool E |
Pool F |
Pool G |
Pool H |
Squads
Day 1 results
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
Pool E
Pool F
Pool G
Pool H
Seedings after Day 1
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Seed Day 2 Pool 
Fiji
2 2 0 0 104 0 104 1 A2 
South Africa
2 2 0 0 83 12 71 2 B2 
Western Samoa
2 2 0 0 74 29 45 3 C2 
France
2 2 0 0 73 10 63 4 D2 
New Zealand
2 2 0 0 68 21 47 5 E2 
England
2 2 0 0 59 19 40 6 F2 
Spain
2 2 0 0 57 17 40 7 G2 
Australia
2 1 1 0 57 26 31 8 H2 
Scotland
2 1 1 0 45 33 12 9 H2 
Zimbabwe
2 1 0 1 49 33 16 10 G2 
Cook Islands
2 1 0 1 43 48 -5 11 F2 
Tonga
2 1 0 1 42 28 14 12 E2 
United States
2 1 0 1 38 42 -4 13 D2 
Argentina
2 1 0 1 38 67 -29 14 C2 
Hong Kong
2 1 0 1 33 57 -24 15 B2 
Wales
2 0 1 1 36 38 -2 16 A2 
Namibia
2 0 1 1 17 60 -43 17 A2 
Ireland
2 0 0 2 27 69 -42 18 B2 
Morocco
2 0 0 2 22 57 -35 19 C2 
Romania
2 0 0 2 21 64 -43 20 D2 
Japan
2 0 0 2 21 82 -61 21 E2 
Canada
2 0 0 2 19 75 -56 22 F2 
South Korea
2 0 0 2 12 71 -59 23 G2 
Portugal
2 0 0 2 12 92 -80 24 H2
Day 2 results
| Key to colours in group tables |
|---|
| Team that progressed to the Cup Quarter-finals (also indicated in bold type) |
| Team that progressed to the Plate Quarter-finals (also indicated in bold italics) |
| Team that progressed to the Bowl Quarter-finals (also indicated in plain italics) |
All times Hong Kong time (UTC+1)
Pool A
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts Fiji
2 2 0 0 101 0 101 6 Wales
2 1 0 1 40 40 0 4 Namibia
2 0 0 2 5 106 -101 2
Pool B
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts South Africa
2 2 0 0 63 12 51 6 Hong Kong
2 1 0 1 31 34 -3 4 Ireland
2 0 0 2 12 60 -48 2
Pool C
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts Western Samoa
2 2 0 0 70 12 58 6 Argentina
2 1 0 1 45 35 10 4 Morocco
2 0 0 2 7 75 -68 2
Pool D
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts France
2 2 0 0 73 7 66 6 Romania
2 1 0 1 17 45 -28 4 United States
2 0 0 2 19 57 -38 2
Pool E
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts New Zealand
2 2 0 0 78 5 73 6 Tonga
2 1 0 1 40 57 -17 4 Japan
2 0 0 2 26 82 -56 2
Pool F
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts England
2 2 0 0 59 17 42 6 Cook Islands
2 1 0 1 15 29 -14 4 Canada
2 0 0 2 7 35 -28 2
Pool G
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts South Korea
2 1 1 0 33 22 11 5 Spain
2 1 1 0 31 24 7 5 Zimbabwe
2 0 0 2 22 40 -18 2
Pool H
Team Pld W D L PF PA +/- Pts Australia
2 2 0 0 57 26 31 6 Scotland
2 1 0 1 47 38 9 4 Portugal
2 0 0 2 14 54 -40 2
Day 3 - Knockout results
Bowl
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Japan | 24 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Namibia | 22 | |||||||||
| Japan | 24 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Ireland | 22 | |||||||||
| Portugal | 5 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Ireland | 33 | |||||||||
| Japan | 28 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| United States | 40 | |||||||||
| United States | 24 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Canada | 21 | |||||||||
| United States | 24 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Morocco | 0 | |||||||||
| Zimbabwe | 12 | |||||||||
| Morocco | 19 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Plate
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Spain | 0 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Cook Islands | 36 | |||||||||
| Cook Islands | 10 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Tonga | 43 | |||||||||
| Wales | 12 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Tonga | 26 | |||||||||
| Tonga | 40 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Hong Kong | 19 | |||||||||
| Argentina | 2 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Hong Kong | 26 | |||||||||
| Hong Kong | 43 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Scotland | 7 | |||||||||
| Scotland | 43 | |||||||||
| Romania | 19 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Cup
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| Fiji | 56 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| South Korea | 0 | |||||||||
| Fiji | 38 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| Western Samoa | 14 | |||||||||
| England | 5 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| Western Samoa | 21 | |||||||||
| Fiji | 24 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| South Africa | 21 | |||||||||
| South Africa | 19 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| France | 14 | |||||||||
| South Africa | 31 | |||||||||
| 23 May – Hong Kong Stadium | ||||||||||
| New Zealand | 7 | |||||||||
| New Zealand | 40 | |||||||||
| Australia | 12 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
| 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens champions |
|---|
 Fiji First title |