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Talented Youth Pushing for Hong Kong to Shine

There are four changes in the 13-woman squad for the second-leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Huizhou as Hong Kong look to improve on their first-leg bronze medal. Jessica Ho, Amber Tsang Wing-chi and Agnes Tse Wing-kiu coming in as Florence Symonds, Amy Pyle and Lee Tsz-ting are rested.

The youth movement continues as coach Iain Monaghan uses every opportunity to expose Hong Kong’s emerging talent to next-level competition. After a seamless debut from Symonds, who scored a hat trick against Kazakhstan in the bronze medal final, coach Iain Monaghan is set to debut another in a long list of recent National Age Grade (NAG) candidates making senior debuts in forward Chloe Baltazar.

Baltazar is one of a block of Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers players entering the national side and has represented Hong Kong at U18 and U20s sevens level. She is joined in the squad by scrumhalf Jessica Ho Wai-on, one of the original wave of Tigers graduating from age grade to senior rugby in 2017, who earns her first sevens call-up of the season this weekend.

“The young girls bring bags of energy on and off the field, and they are still nowhere near their potential so it’s really exciting to watch them at this level. They all love giving their best to make Hong Kong and their families proud,” said Monaghan.

Monaghan complimented his newest cap Baltazar saying, “Chloe has transitioned well over the summer and played a strong role in the U20s team that won the Asian Series. She brings an edge in our contact tackles and some hard carries from her fifteens experience. She never takes a backward step and I’m pleased she is getting this chance, especially after how hard she worked this summer.”

Captain Melody Li leads the squad with Natasha Olson-Thorne and Nam Ka-man also featured, after successfully returning from injury and delivering impact in Korea. Their defensive skills will be needed with Hong Kong in a challenging group as second seeds in Pool B behind hosts China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. China showed well to start the season, reaching the cup final in Korea before losing 19-5 to Japan. On home ground they enter as early favourites.

“We want a more consistent performance in both halves and to show our hunger and desire to improve on, and back up our strong performances from last week, while affording some new players a chance to show what they can do,” said Monaghan.

“It is a competitive and hard working squad, which is good, because we have some challenging games against improving opponents, who exposed us in Korea when we did not work harder or smarter; we’re looking forward to righting some wrongs from the last tournament,” he added.

Hong Kong Women’s Sevens Squad (Huizhou, China, 14-15 Sept 2019):

Melody Li Nim-yan (Captain), Natasha Olson-Thorne, Sham Wai-sum, Chloe Baltazar^, Jessica Ho Wai-on*, Au Yeung, Sin-yi; Poon Hoi-yan; Nam Ka-man, Chong Ka-yan, Stephanie Chan Chor-ki, Jessica Eden, Amber Tsang Wing-chi*, Agnes Tse Wing-kiu*
^ First senior sevens cap; *Season debut

Additional reporting and images: HK rugby

Hong Kong Women Superb on Day 1 in Sri Lanka

https://youtu.be/BMEpKM0FOiQ

China vs Hong Kong (Women) (https://youtu.be/BMEpKM0FOiQ)

Hong Kong’s Women’s Seven topped Pool C at the end of Day 1 of the Columbo Sevens – edging Sri Lanka, 17-12, and blanking Singapore, 26-0, before a superb 19-12 win over China. The women had a slow start against Sri Lanka but did well to claim a win in a match played under the punishing noonday sun.

The result was not as convincing as coach Anna Richards would have liked, particularly with the next match against a Singapore side that has posed problems for Hong Kong in the series. But Hong Kong left no doubt in their second outing as they outmuscled and outran their opponents in a 26-0 whitewash. Hong Kong saved its best for last, producing a peerless performance in a 19-12 win over China to claim the top spot in the pool.

Natasha Olson-Thorne, who continues to stake her claim as one of the top players in Asia of any gender, provided the only scoring in the first half as the gritty centre demolished China’s defence with a huge fend en route to an individual try that put Hong Kong ahead 7-0 after Tjosvold’s conversion.

China drew level late in the half, but Hong Kong resumed service in the second half, taking the ball deep into Chinese territory after China flubbed the second half kick-off. Sensing that China was flagging, Hong Kong upped its intensity further as Adrienne Garvey, Olson-Thorne and Tjosvold put on a master class of support play to peg China on its own try-line. Patience over the ball paid off as Hong Kong mounted wave after wave of attacks sapping the defence.

China eventually regained possession but only momentarily as Nam Ka-man, who was influential throughout the day, levelled the ball carrier. Cindy Yuen Lok-yee collected the loose ball to score from in close. Tjosvold’s conversion gave Hong Kong a 14-7 lead with three minutes remaining. Another Chinese error at the re-start handed the put-in at the scrum to Hong Kong who won ball cleanly. Lindsay Varty immediately raised the stakes with a quick attack, carrying deep before offloading to Ivy Kwong Sau-yan who added Hong Kong’s third try in the 19-7 win.

The reward for topping the pool for the first time this season was bittersweet however, as Hong Kong will now meet series co-leaders Japan, who were unceremoniously beaten by an inspired Thailand seven, in tomorrow’s cup semi final (15.59 Hong Kong time).

“It’s been an interesting day. We struggled a bit in our first game, but played a lot better in the second. But I was really happy with our performance against China, especially our composure. We handled the pressure very well. We were able to keep calm and control the game a bit more and that was the key,” Richards said.

Richards was unfazed that the reward for the day’s graft was to face Japan: “That will be a really good test for us. We know what Japan are like. We will need more of what we showed today against China. We need to control what we can control, stay composed and work hard on defence,” said Richards.

Hong Kong Women Seek Improvement at Columbo Sevens

After a disappointing first two tournaments in the Asia Womens Rugby Sevens 2016 where Hong Kong finished third in both, Hong Kong women’s sevens coach Anna Richards and her squad head to the Columbo Sevens seeking their first wins of the season over Japan and China who won in Hong Kong and Korea respectively.

Hong Kong are pooled behind China and ahead of a rapidly improving Singapore side and Sri Lanka in Pool C. Japan top Pool D along with Thailand, South Korea and India on their season debut.

Richards has selected an unchanged squad from the last outing. “We played pretty well in Korea so we didn’t see the need to make changes,” said Richards, who noted that attacking wing Aggie Poon Pak-yan is still sidelined by injury and will miss her second tournament of the series.

Hong Kong’s chances to move higher in the rankings would require either China or Japan, who have swapped the titles and runners-up spots over the first two legs, to fall outside of the top four, while Hong Kong would have to at least reach the final this weekend.

“It doesn’t seem likely due to the consistency of China and Japan this season,” said Richards. “We would have to reach the final while one of the others would have to have a steep fall. We are more focused on our own performance and consolidating our third placed finish.”

Instead, Richards will be looking for a breakout performance against first China in the pool stages. “We would like to perform better against China. From what we are hearing they will have a totally different team in Sri Lanka compared to what we have seen so far, with players being drawn from a new province. Who knows what will turn up but most of the provincial sides in China are pretty similar and we are expecting that they will again be very competitive,” said Richards.

“We want to consolidate our third place finish and also to play better than we have done so far. Training has been going well and the girls have put a lot of work into this weekend so now we just need to perform,” Richards added.

The tournament is being live streamed at www.asiarugby.com

Hong Kong: Cheng Ka-Chi, Christy (captain); Natasha Olson-Thorne (vice Captain); Nam Ka-Man; Candy Cheng Tsz-Ting; Amelie Seure; Sham Wai-Sum; Colleen Tjosvold; Kwong Sau-Yan; Lindsay Varty; Chong Ka-Yan, Adrienne Garvey, Yuen Lok-Yee.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU

Asia Sevens Series Korea: Day 1 Results – 24 September, 2016

Hong Kong’s men and women had a good first first day in the second leg of the Asia Sevens Series in Korea with both teams making it through to the Cup semi-final.

All the semi-finals and finals are being live streamed Asia Rugby‘s YouTube channel AsiaRugbyLive

Hong Kong’s women won their first two matches convincingly against Uzbekistan (51-0) and Singapore (24-0) but lost a closely fought final match of the day encounter against Japan 24-12. This though was a vastly improved performance against a team that thrashed them in Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago. Hong Kong finished second in Pool C and will play China, who easily won Pool D, in the second Cup semi-final on Sunday.

The men also finished second in their pool, after cruising to easy wins over Taiwan (47-5) and Japan (57-0), Hong Kong lost a thrilling match against hosts Korea 28-21 and will also play China in their cup semi-final. While Japan are looking to blood new young university age players, it does devalue the competition and dis-respect the other competitors that their side is not even competitive.

Hong Kong Women Head to Korea

After finishing third in the opening Hong Kong leg of the Asia Women’s Sevens Series coach Anna Richards is looking for significant improvement in Korea, but a challenging pool could complicate matters. Hong Kong are drawn in Pool C with Japan, Singapore and Uzbekistan. China top Pool D ahead of Thailand, South Korea and Guam.

For the second leg of the three leg series Richards has stuck with the core of the squad who played in the home leg earlier this month, making just two changes as Melody Li Nim-yan and prodigious finisher Aggie Poon Pak-yan make way for Amelie Seure who will reinforce the forwards and utility back Lindsay Varty.

Poon is out with an injury picked up in the opening tournament with a likely return for the series finale in Sri Lanka next month. Li makes way for Amelie Seure as Richards rotates from the wider squad.

“I need to make sure that we are looking at all of the players and with Aggie out injured Lindsay provides some good backline depth for us. We brought in Amelie to help counter some of the size differential that we saw against some of the bigger teams in Hong Kong. Amelie is a good ball-carrier and we want to see what she can bring this weekend,” said Richards.

“Our goal is to reach the final and give ourselves a shot to win. It will be tough because Japan and China again demonstrated that they are quality sides.” continued Richards who believes that wining the Korean leg is within reach as long as her charges can hold their nerve. “We need to cut down the errors from the first tournament and to make sure that we stay calm and focussed in the pressure games against Japan and China.”

“I thought we played quite well at times in the opening leg. We set up some opportunities against China but we didn’t capitalise on them and we just let in too many easy tries against Japan,” said Richards who continued that Captain Christy Cheng Ka-chi and vice captain Natasha Olson-Thorne have a big role to play in keeping the squad’s composure in the pressure games.

“It’s across the squad really. It’s everyone’s responsibility but we do rely on Christy and Tash to help keep the players in the frame in those pressure matches,” Richards concluded.

Hong Kong Women’s Seven for Korea Sevens (24-25 September):
Cheng Ka-Chi, Christy (captain); Natasha Olson-Thorne (vice Captain); Nam Ka-Man; Candy Cheng Tsz-Ting; Amelie Seure; Sham Wai-Sum; Colleen Tjosvold; Kwong Sau-Yan; Lindsay Varty; Chong Ka-Yan, Adrienne Garvey, Yuen Lok-Yee.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU

Hong Kong Beat Thailand to Claim Third Place

Hong Kong women claim third place 36-7 with a convincing 6 try demolition win over Thailand.

Earlier in the day China’s women dashed Hong Kong’s hopes for cup final appearance at their home tournament with a 19-7 win in the cup semi final. A slow start proved disastrous for the hosts as the visitors dominated possession and territory en route to a 12-0 lead at the half.

Hong Kong brought the score back 12-7 with a try by Natasha Olson-Thorne in the second half. China proved too strong though and a late breakaway try clinched the match just as the hosts pushed for the win.

“We had a better second half, but we gave away some cheap tries early on and we can’t afford to do that,” said Hong Kong coach Anna Richards. “We have got to make better use of the ball when we have it. In the second half we were a lot better, there was greater urgency and we scored a good try, but we probably should have scored a couple more with the amount of ball we had,” Richards added.

The loss sent Hong Kong to the third/fourth place play-off against Thailand who had earlier lost to Japan in their semi final.

In the play-off, Hong Kong fired out of the starting blocks posting three unanswered first half tries with a brace from Aggie Poon Pak-yan bookending a try from Ivy Kwong Sau-yan giving them a 19-0 cushion.

On the back foot for the entirety of the game, Thailand’s only reply came from the kick-off of the second half, as Hong Kong expressed itself with three more tries in the second half to run out 36-7 winners.

“It’s nice to finish like that, but it’s been a disappointing weekend in some aspects. We have done some things quite well and when we give ourselves the opportunity to attack we look quite good, but we have to be able to do that in the big pressure games,” Richards added.

“This is a good start and we have two tournaments still to come. Our aim is to make the final in the next leg and to do that we need to work on keeping our composure and making the most of what we have in front of us. We turned the ball over too quickly and gave away too many cheap tries this weekend. If we continue to do that then we are going to be on the back foot from the start,” said Richards.

Hong Kong Women’s Sevens Squad (Asia Rugby Sevens Series – Hong Kong): Cheng Ka-Chi, Christy (Captain); Natasha Olson-Thorne (Vice Captain); Nam Ka-Man; Candy Cheng Tsz-Ting; Aggie Poon Pak-Yan; Sham Wai-Sum; Colleen Tjosvold; Kwong Sau-Yan; Li Nim-Yan, Melody; Chong Ka-Yan, Adrienne Garvey, Yuen Lok-Yee.

Hong Kong in Cup Semi-finals at Asian Womens Rugby Sevens

Hong Kong advanced to the Asian Women’s Sevens Cup semi-finals finishing second in their pool. Hong Kong beat Guam 29-0 in the opening match, followed by a stuttering 7-0 win over Singapore in their second encounter with Hong Kong striking early but then unable to add to the tally for the remaining 13 minutes of the match.

The early wins set up a climactic pool game against Japan to see who would come out on top of the pool. Japan were comfortable 28-0 winners in a one-sided victory. Hong Kong failed to fire from the outset, with an uncharacteristic amount of loose ball and turnovers putting the game out of the hosts’ reach by half-time.

Despite the down finish to the afternoon, coach Anna Richards was mindful that the team are still on target heading into day two.

“That match was a good wake up for the girls,” said Richards. “The first two games I didn’t think we really played that well and I thought that against Japan we played much better. We were made to work hard and we kept at it and I was really pleased at the girls energy levels in the second half. We kept at them and started to make some ground late,” Richards said.

The going will get even tougher for the hosts when they play China in the cup semi final. Japan play Thailand in the other bracket.

“China were heads and shoulders better than everybody else in the field I thought,” said Richards. “We are going to need to reduce our errors tomorrow and make the most of what ball we have. Make sure that we protect that ball and not let them turn us over. China are a big team like Japan so we need to put them on the ground quickly and cut off their attacking space.

“China like to play out wide and I don’t think they attack the ruck in the same way Japan does. We did a good job of sealing off the ball today against Japan so if we can get our halfbacks over the ball quicker we should have more possession.

“We need to play like we did in the second half against Japan. We need to cut China’s attacking space down for 14 minutes. It’s difficult to do but at this level it’s essential. We also need to be a bit more accurate with the ball and capitalise on the breaks when we have them as you don’t get many,” Richards concluded.

Singapore will play Uzbekistan in the first plate semi final followed by Guam versus Sri Lanka in the second. Japan will play Thailand in the other cup semi final. Match action starts tomorrow at 11.00am an Hong Kong will face China at 12.06

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