Tag: rugby 7s

Hong Kong Women Aim for Olympic Qualification in Tokyo

HKG-Natasha-Olson-Thorne-v-Guam

The Hong Kong Women’s Sevens squad departed today for Tokyo, Japan where they will play in this weekend’s second leg of Asia Rugby’s Olympic qualification tournament. At the end of which one women’s team from Asia will automatically qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after the completion of the tournament on 29 November.

After winning this year’s opening Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tournament in Qingdao China, what once looked like a goal for 2020 is now a real – albeit slim – possibility for the 2016 after Hong Kong finished third in the opening leg of the two-stage qualifier at the Hong Kong Stadium on 7-8 November.

The women’s seven finished that tournament with a four win and two loss record – with losses coming against the eventual finalists Japan and Kazakhstan – but dispatched pre-tournament favourites China twice, including a 12-7 win in the third place play-off.

The result leaves Hong Kong needing an outright win in Tokyo, but also dependent upon the two finalists from the first leg not reaching this weekend’s cup match.Should either opponent reach the final in Tokyo they will have done enough to book their ticket to Rio on overall points across the series.

If Hong Kong win in Tokyo and Japan and Kazakhstan fail to reach the final, tie-breakers will come into effect. First up will be the head-to-head results between the two tied teams across the two Olympic qualifier events. If three teams are tied at the end of play on Sunday, point differentials across the series will be the deciding factor.

Hong Kong must win and win well this weekend. The hometown heroes have the advantage of heading to Japan with an unchanged side including flying winner Aggie Poon Pak Yan, who has been the revelation of the series.

Poon again proved that she is the deadliest finisher in Asian women’s rugby, leading all players with eight tries in Hong Kong earlier this month. Those totals bring her remarkable season tally to 25 tries and 24 conversions over the qualifier and two Asian sevens events so far in 2015, for a combined 173 points.

Hong Kong will need Poon to be on song once again as the team looks to make an all-out push for a historic Olympic berth. Squad veterans in captain Christy Cheng Ka Chi, vice captain Natasha Olson-Thorne and Candy Cheng Tsz Ting will also need to peak at the opportune moment to give Hong Kong any chance of success.

The Tokyo qualifier will again see six teams competing in a single pool, round-robin competition. Hong Kong will face Japan, Kazakhstan, China, Sri Lanka and Guam. Hong Kong will open in Tokyo against Guam, whom they blanked 29-0 earlier this month but it is the last two matches on day one that will determine Hong Kong’s chances as they face Kazakhstan and Japan in the closing ties on Saturday. Both sides beat Hong Kong in the first qualifier, with Japan handing the hosts a 36-0 whitewash to end day one at the HK Stadium – that match coming on the heels of Hong Kong’s highly physical 5-0 victory over China.

Coach Anna Richards commented on the squad’s performance from the opening leg, saying, “We were up-and-down unfortunately, but we still have a mathematical chance. It will be a tough one and we must now win it all this weekend.”

In Tokyo, Hong Kong will need to take matters into their own hands and hand Japan and Kazakhstan early losses to prevent them from reaching the final. Hong Kong’s opening pool match on day two is against China in a potential trap game after Hong Kong gained the upper hand on China in recent tournaments.

China, perhaps the most disappointing performer after many expected them to be Asia’s representatives in Rio, will kick off the second leg against Japan in the first match in Tokyo, a tie that could help upset the formbook and set the stage for a weekend of hoped for surprises.
After looking imperious in the opening leg, Japan will enter the tournament as the heavy favourites particularly as they enjoy a rare opportunity to play in front of their home fans. Japan’s women’s sevens have never played an Asia Rugby tournament at home.

Led by the inspirational Chiharu Nakamura, Japan will be intent on joining their men’s counterparts, who secured the Olympic berth earlier this month after coming back from a 10-point first half deficit to beat Hong Kong 24-10 in the final, next year in Rio.

Hong Kong Squad for Olympic Qualifier – Japan Leg
Cheng Ka Chi Christy (Captain), Natasha Olson-Thorne (vice Captain), Amelie Seure, Cheng Tsz Ting, Chong Ka Yan, Kwong Sau Yan, Lai Pou Fan, Lindsay Varty, Nam Ka Man, Poon Pak Yan Aggie, Sham Wai Sum, Stephanie Cuvelier.

Olympic Games Rugby 7s Qualifier Day 1

An empty HK Stadium reverberated to the screams of the $100million relaid grass pitch as it was torn to shreds during the first day of the Asia Rugby 7s Rio Qualifier.

Hong Kong’s women comfortably won their first two games, but were completely outplayed by Japan in the day’s final pool game. Tomorrow’s first pool game against Kazakhstan will decide who plays Japan in the final for a spot at the Olympics.

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Olympic Sevens Qualifying

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The Hong Kong Sevens are the best global sporting social event around, in a world before the Internet and instant global communication the HK Sevens were known across the globe even by non-rugby players like myself. For my first tickets I queued overnight in a freezing Victoria Park and stayed three months in a city I’d planned to visit for a few days. That three months, turned into a lifetime and I’m now proudly a Hongkong and this wonderful city is my home. That first Sevens an ecstatic happy memory, the 21 that have followed, some of the best days of each year even though it’s hard work.

I love the Sevens and appreciate that they’re HK Rugby Football Union’s golden goose the multi-million annual tournament that stuffs the Union’s bank account to over-flowing. The competition that even now in the era of professional rugby, players dream of attending or playing at above almost any other. That ‘other’ was once perhaps singular, the Rugby World Cup, from 2016 the ‘other’ is a duo as the Olympics embraces Rugby 7s for the first time.

It’d be tough to say which is the biggest and best known sporting tournament in the world, the Olympics or the Football World Cup. The Olympics probably just shade it. The roar at the HK Stadium when Hong Kong won the shield in 2010 for their first trophy in a decade was amazing. But Lee Lai Shan wining gold at the Olympics was monumental as was Li Ching and Ko Lai Chak’s silver in 2004. Watching Sarah Lee win a bronze medal live at the London Olympics 2012 had me screaming at the computer monitor and walking around so proud and happy of a HongKonger’s achievement on the biggest of biggest sporting stages.

The Olympics, for all their faults, are when the world focuses on sport almost exclusively for a couple of weeks. Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s rugby 7s teams, both have a chance to be among the twelve countries who qualify to compete at Rio2016. The Olympics only happen every four years so qualifying is a hard and rare opportunity, and the fame of the HKSevens has given Hong Kong home advantage for both tournaments.

Really, you didn’t know – I’m not surprised. Tickets for the November 7-8 Qualification Tournament went on sale last week. Yet there’s no mention of this on the website of the HKRFU. Nothing on it’s facebook page, not even a tweet (account suspended). There’s been no press release about tickets going onsale. No details of how many tickets are available locally to the general public (are the Union worried that having 38,000 tickets for sale will reveal how much they are screwing the public allocation at the 7s – come on the public are not stupid, they know they get screwed every March on tickets). Nothing, nada! A black hole of promotion, advertising and awareness.

It is quite frankly a disgrace, Hong Kong might not win the gold medal at Rio2016 but qualifying would be a fantastic achievement. The roar of packed HK Stadium might be the eighth man that pushes Hong Kong across the qualification try-line against our two toughest regional rivals Japan and China. So why does the HKRFU ignore this wonderful opportunity? Are they incompetent? Jealous that the Olympics will injure their annual golden goose? Or is Olympic rugby, like women’s rugby a part of the game to be suffered by the male dinosaurs who run the local game because they’re not feted and fawned upon, their ego’s stroked, as they are by all those $uper rich corporate$ desperate for access to the holy grail of sevens tickets!

Sort it out! The players and fans deserve better!

HKRFU website 18 August, 2015 - 4 days after tickets went onsale.
HKRFU website 18 August, 2015 – 4 days after tickets went onsale.

Asian Games: Rugby 7s – Japan edge Hong Kong for Gold

Hong Kong Silver Medal Asian Games 2014

Japan won the men’s gold medal at the Asian Games rugby sevens competition defeating arch-rivals Hong Kong 24-12 in a gripping final on Thursday.

It was the second successive time the two rivals had met in the Asian Games final and the result was the same with Japan running out victors although Hong Kong pushed them to the limit once again.

“This win means a lot to us. Only one team from Asia will be going to the Rio Olympics, and we have put down a marker,” said Japan’s 15s captain Michael Leitch who was called up for duty to retain the sevens title.

Hong Kong entered the Asian Games having won both opening legs at the ARFU Asian Sevens Series but couldn’t quite find the winning formula against a Japanese outfit beefed up with Top League players including Leitch who scored one of the four tries for Japan in the final.

Hong Kong veteran Rowan Varty had given first blood to his team when he cut through the defence to score the first try of the match after both teams had spent the first five minutes going hammer and tongs at each other.

Japan equalized through Leitch who bulldozed his way over from close range, but he was sin-binned seconds later for a dangerous tackle. Hong Kong failed to take advantage, however, as a superb Japanese defence kept them out.

With the hooter having gone for halftime, Hong Kong opted to keep the ball alive with a quick tap and they paid for it when the ball was turned over and Japan punted it downfield.

In the chase for the ball, Hong Kong winger Tom McQueen was penalized for obstruction and a penalty try was awarded to Japan.

Hong Kong came back after the break when sub Salom Yiu Kam-shing scored soon after coming on but tries from Lomano Lemeki and Kazushi Hano saw Japan finish strongly.

“A silver medal is a great achievement but it is still a disappointment as we had come here to win the gold,” said Hong Kong skipper Jamie Hood.

Hong Kong had to fight hard to enter the final needing to get past South Korea in the semi-finals and winning a closely fought contest 15-7.

Korea led 7-5 at the break with a try from winger Jeong Yeon-sik cancelling out Hong Kong’s opening try of the match, which came in the fifth minute by winger Varty who rounded his opposite number to score.

But with the skies opening up over the impressive Namdong rugby stadium, the orders were clear from Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber – keep play inside the opponent’s 22 – and Hong Kong carried it out perfectly as they encamped inside Korean territory and kept play tight. The pressure paid dividends with tries to Tom McQueen and skipper Jamie Hood.

Japan had it easier in the other semi-final as they breezed to a 40-0 win over Sri Lanka with star player Lomano Lemeki grabbing a hat-trick.

Once winger Kazushi Hano had touched down for the first try, it seemed Sri Lanka had set their minds on the bronze medal match as Japan had it all their own way running in five more tries to book their berth in the final.

South Korea went on to win the bronze medal defeating a spirited Sri Lanka 17-14 in a tense game.

Additional reporting HKRFU, photo: Power Sport Images for HKRFU

Men’s Asian Sevens Series – Day 1

Men's Asian Sevens Series - Day 1

Asian champions Japan and all the other big guns moved smoothly into the knockout stages of the first leg of the Asian Rugby Football Union’s Asian Sevens Series in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Asia’s only representative on the Sevens World Series Japan underlined their status as the top team in the region hammering the United Arab Emirates, 51-0, and Malaysia, 28-0, to top Pool A.

Other top seeds South Korea, Sri Lanka and hosts Hong Kong also remained unbeaten on the opening day of the first leg of the Asian Sevens Series, which teams are using as a build-up to next month’s Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Japan coach Tomohiro Segawa was particularly pleased with his rock-solid defence which helped the reigning Asian champions to become the only seeded team to keep a clean slate on day one.

“No one scored against us and I’m very happy with our defence which is a key area in sevens,” Segawa said. “I’m also pleased with our new players who seemed to fit in quite well. This series will be a good experience for them.”

Japan fielded four debutants as they look towards building depth for their first full season on the Sevens World Series beginning in October, as well as the Olympics. Japan will meet China in the cup quarterfinal on Sunday.

Arch-rivals Hong Kong, who played in all four Cup finals in the Asian Sevens Series against Japan last season, easily defeated Kazakhstan 38-5 but faced a tougher time against the Philippines before eventually emerging winners, 24-0.

“We came out to win two games and accomplished that,” said Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber.

“We controlled possession well and I’m happy with the way our younger players who had their first hit-outs went. They didn’t look out of place. They were a bit nervy at times, which is understandable, but they played their part to make sure we got two from two.”

Teenager Michael Coverdale and Jack Capon made winning debuts for Hong Kong, who will face Singapore in the Cup quarterfinals. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the match between Sri Lanka and Malaysia in the semi-finals.

Sri Lanka started slowly with a hard-fought 17-5 victory over China before raising the tempo with a 40-12 rout of Chinese-Taipei, scoring 35 points in the first half.

“We had a good day. We stuck to our game plan which was to move the ball wide,” said Sri Lanka captain Fazil Marija.

Sri Lanka, coached by former Fiji captain Setefano Cakau, finished third behind Japan and Hong Kong last season and Marija admitted both teams will once again provide the main obstacle for the islanders.

“They are both physical sides and if we meet them, we will have to keep contact to a minimum and move the ball away from those areas. If we can spread the ball wide, I’m confident we can beat them,” Marija said. But first-up for Sri Lanka will be Malaysia.

With an eye on the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea have brought a young team to the first leg in Hong Kong and coach Chung Hyun Suk was happy after his team emerged with wins over Singapore, 50-0, and Thailand, 35-10.

“We have a mix of young and experienced players and this was the first opportunity for them to play together and I’m pleased with the way they performed,” said Chung.

Entry to Sunday play at the Hong Kong Football Club is free.

Additional reporting, photo courtesy of HKRFU