Hong Kong looked the class of the men’s competition, as they advanced to the cup semi-finals finishing day one undefeated and without conceding a point against their pool B opponents, beating Malaysia 36-0, Chinese Taipei 47-0 and Sri Lanka 22-0. They’ll face South Korea at 13:34.
A solid first day ended with the a highly convincing win over second seeds Sri Lanka. Hong Kong’s line speed and defensive effort were good, putting every Sri Lankan possession under severe pressure while keeping Sri Lanka’s dangerous pace men penned deep in their half.
Hong Kong jumped out to 15-0 first half lead after tries from Ryan Meacheam, Leigh Jones and Alex McQueen. Tom McQueen added the final try at the end of regulation to put Hong Kong home 22-0.
Coach Gareth Baber was pleased with his side’s first foray in the region in 2016, saying: “I’m very happy with our performance. You never quite know where you are going into a new season, so it was nice to firstly come up and build on our games throughout the day and, even better, to be put under pressure by a good Sri Lanka team but still come out ahead.
“We were really brave against Sri Lanka. We were aggressive and accurate and deserved that victory. If we can reach that level again tomorrow there is no reason why we can’t progress further,” Baber added.
Hong Kong’s attack was on song as the side posted 105 points on the day – by far the best in the tournament with Sri Lanka and South Korea trailing on 83 and 82 points respectively, but Baber was also pleased with the side’s defensive effort.
“Great to have that clean sheet at the end of the day. Our defence is something we pride ourselves on and I think it says something about the attitude of the group. It’s great to score tries and entertain, but if you can prevent the opposition from building pressure and not allow them areas to dominate, it makes a big statement and I thought we showed that attitude tonight,” Baber added.
Hong Kong will need more of the same in tomorrow’s match to bypass a fast and physical South Korea. “Korea are a good team,” said Baber. “We know them well and they have a very good outfit here this weekend. They are physical and fast but we are playing at a good level and I’m sure that they will be looking over their shoulders as well at us.”
“The players know what is ahead of them and what we need to do. We’ll go about that the way we always do. We have a system and a way we want to play and we had the right attitude today,” Baber said.
China were the surprise finishers at the top of Pool A after beating Japan 12-10 in their season opener before edging South Korea 19-17 in their final pool match. China will play Sri Lanka in tomorrow’s first cup semi-final.
Japan featured a side full of unseasoned university talent this weekend as they opted to give a well-deserved rest to their first-choice seven after finishing in fourth place at the Rio Olympics.
The inexperience showed as Japan was routed to the Plate competition where they will play Chinese Taipei. The early glitch could make Japan’s title defence that much harder as Hong Kong found out to their detriment last season when they fell to the Plate in the opener in Qingdao. Singapore and Malaysia will feature in a cross-Causeway clash in the other Plate semi final.
Asia Rugby Sevens Series
Date: 2-3 September, 2016
Venue: HK Football Club
Tickets: Free
More info: public entry via Happy Valley infield, via the tunnel near the HK Racing Museum
Live stream: http://www.youtube.com/c/AsiaRugbylive/live
Additional reporting and photo: HKRU