Hong Kong stayed on track to retain the Asia Rugby Championship with a clinical 71-0 whitewash of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
After a positive performance last week, Malaysia’s negative tactics at home were a surprise, but seemingly from the outset the hosts planned to frustrate Hong Kong. That plan failed, with the visitors leading 33-0 at the break having secured a bonus point for scoring four with minutes left in the opening stanza.
Hong Kong added lineout dominance to its scrum superiority from last week’s reverse fixture, frustrating the Malaysian attack on multiple levels. Hong Kong also dominated possession, but unlike last week, converted it into points with a 10-try haul.
The reigning Asian Champions made their intent clear from the kick-off, forcing the Malaysians back deep into their own twenty-two where their defence repelled the initial engagements, but eventually conceded one too many professional fouls with the referee awarding a penalty try in just the 6th minute, handing Hong Kong a 7-0 advantage.
In the 12th minute, Malaysia’s cynical play was again penalised with a sin bin, putting them under further pressure. Given all of Hong Kong’s early possession, the scoreboard looked frustratingly similar to that from last week at Hong Kong Football Club, where the hosts could not convert opportunities into points.
Unlike that fixture, Hong Kong maintained its discipline and composure and the relentless pressure soon forced the floodgates open with visitors scoring three more first-half tries:
Wing Harry Sayers pushed Hong Kong’s lead to 14-0 after scoring untouched from an attacking scrum in the 19th minute. Five minutes later, captain Liam Slatem added a good line break to get behind the Malaysian defence and produced a well-timed outlet pass to the onrushing Tyler Spitz with the pugnacious centre flashing the final 35 metres for another try. Matt Rosslee’s conversion was wide but Hong Kong had extended its lead to 19-0.
Paul Altier converted another attacking opportunity seconds later, benefiting from a line break sparked by fly half Jack Neville, for the bonus point try as Hong Kong pushed its lead to 33-0 with 40 minutes of action left.
The second half proved more of the same as Hong Kong exorcised its frustrations from a fortnight ago, with seven tries down the stretch.
Slatem started the action with a typical sniping try after the forwards continued to plague the Malaysian lineout in the second half, stealing their third throw-in of the game on the Malaysian line with Slatem darting in to touch the bouncing ball down over the line.
A nice solo effort from Altier saw the current Hong Kong U20 captain, playing alongside his co-captain Sam Tsoi tonight, convert a 60-metre break for his brace, before No.8 Kane Boucaut burrowed over for his first try moments later as Hong Kong pushed its lead to 52-nil.
Sayers, another player capped for the first time in this year’s Asia Rugby Championship, collected his brace in the 67th minute finishing off a broken attacking play as the Malaysian defence capitulated down the stretch. Jack Neville and Lewis Warner added tries in the final quarter with Matt Rosslee converting seven of nine on the day to give Hong Kong the 71-0 win.
Slatem credited the win to a more experienced selection this weekend and a more professional outlook saying, “Last week, we played a young side and Malaysia really brought it, which was great for the young guys to get that experience and Malaysia really brought it. This week we really worked hard in our preparation and I think that experience in the squad and that little bit more professionalism got us over the line.
“Now we need to reset, get our recovery on point and do our homework on Korea and hopefully get a result next Saturday,” said the captain.
Hong Kong Squad V Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, 22 June):
1. Ben Higgins, 2. Alex Post, 3. Grant Kemp, 4. Fin Field, 5. Kyle Sullivan, 6. Callum Mccullough, 7. James Cunningham, 8. Kane Boucaut, 9. Liam Slatem (C), 10. Jack Neville, 11. Conor Hartley, 12. Matt Rosslee, 13. Tyler Spitz, 14. Harry Sayers, 15. Paul Altier
Reserves: 16. Mitch Andrews, 17. Dan Barlow, 18. Faisal Solomona, 19.Sam Tsoi, 20. Cris Pierrepont, 21. Jamie Lauder, 22. Benjamin Axten-Burrett, 23. Lewis Warner
Additional reporting and images HKRU, Tiger Super Sports