Rugby union in Hong Kong is long established, partly as a result of its being a British colony.

Nevertheless, the HKRFU decreed in 1957 that however many teams there might be in the top flight competition, it would be known as the 'Pentangular' - and so it remained until 1975 when a 'Division 1' championship was instigated following the founding of two new civilian clubs, Valley in 1975 and Kowloon in 1976 (having previously competed as YMCA from 1974).

With the booming of the HK economy came more and more expatriates, in 1992 a team of expat old boys of King George V School formed Typhoons and Aberdeen RFC was established in 1993.

Rugby caught on slowly but surely with the local population, thanks to HKRFU's constantly improving development programme, and the fact that many more local Chinese had played whilst in overseas education, and simply because rugby has been widely recognised as an excellent game to play.

The transfer of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was not the total disaster for rugby there that some predicted.

Since the handover, the Hong Kong Sevens continue to flourish, and there is increasing interest in the game within Mainland China as well.

The Hong Kong Sevens have proven a powerful missionary force in Asia,[2] allowing nations with small numbers of players to compete at a high level, and improve the standard of their game.

After an initial proposal was refused by the Rugby Football Union in England, the HKRFU changed focus and sent out invitations to Asian and Pacific sides.