The Hong Kong Rugby Union’s sevens teams have departed for Colombo for this weekend’s Sri Lanka Sevens, the final tournament on the 2016 Asia Rugby Sevens Series.

Coach Gareth Baber’s men’s team will clinch first place for the third time in the last five seasons with a top three finish this weekend, while coach Anna Richards’ women’s side will look to solidify their third place position on the table.

The men have comfortably won every cup final this season aided by their main rivals Japan sending untested teams to the previous two legs. In the absence of Japan, Sri Lanka has loomed as the largest threat to Hong Kong’s dominance, a threat that will be even more ominous this weekend when the Lankans play in front of their fervent home supporters in Colombo.

Hong Kong hope to complete a wire-to-wire finish after sweeping the first two legs– beating Sri Lanka in both finals.

With Mark Wright and the McQueen brothers out of action, Baber has made three changes. Forward Jack Capon comes into the team alongside Tomasi Lawa who is returning from a lengthy injury lay-off. Former U20s sevens player Jason Jeyam has also been handed his senior sevens debut.

“It is good to have Tomasi back,” said Baber. “He picked up a nasty ankle injury before the series last year that kept him out for a lengthy period. He has worked hard on his recovery and it is great to see a player come back and return to play at the same level as before their injury.

“Tomasi is a great asset in a squad of 12 with his versatility. He can play in either the backs or forwards, is a good ball carrier and strong in the offload. He can also help us win ball in the air with his size,” Baber added.

Jeyam is set to make his senior debut after returning from university in the United Kingdom to cast his lot with Hong Kong Rugby. “Jason came back from university over the summer and has been training with the squad since June. He kept in good communication with us while he was away, updating us on his rugby, and he has impressed us since coming back. He has those attributes that you look for in sevens: pace, good spatial awareness and a very good individual skillset.

“He has played a lot at U20s level and was a key member of the successful U20s 7s sides of recent years. It is exciting to see another young player coming through,” Baber added.

Hong Kong’s pool sees South Korea, Malaysia and Japan rounding out the day one opposition. Hong Kong’s first match will be against a weakened Japan team that has fallen to its lowest spot on the series table in recent memory.

“We never underestimate any team and will be treating this Japan side as if it were the same as the one that played in the Olympics. We have our own objectives from the series and want to work on ourselves this weekend. Our focus is on getting the players to recognize what tournaments like this present for them and us, the opportunity to maintain a consistent approach.”

Barring a shock collapse in form, Hong Kong’s previous efforts should see them claim the Asian title.

“There is still a chance that we finish outside of number one. Effectively we need to reach the last three. If Sri Lanka were to win the final and we fell to fourth or fifth there is a mathematical chance that they could win the Series,” said Baber, who knows the hosts will be up for the challenge.

“Sri Lanka at home with a sniff of first place will prove a tough environment - the toughest so far on the Series. But this is the type of environment we want to play in. We want to test ourselves and to be put under pressure, to challenge the players to put out their best performance no matter the conditions.”

Knowing the atmosphere that awaits Hong Kong Baber is even more pleased to be handing debuts to Lawa (2016 Series) and Jeyam (senior debut).

“It’s one of the pluses of giving those opportunities to Tomasi and Jason. It will present a bit of a new look to the field and gives us the opportunity to develop our guys while posing slightly different questions to what we have done so far.”

Hong Kong women’s sevens coach Anna Richards has her side intent on solidifying Hong Kong’s likely third place finish in the standings, while seeking the season’s first wins over the two superpowers of Asian women’s sevens at present, China and Japan.

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.

Hong Kong VII (men): Max WOODWARD (Captain), Jack CAPON, Michael COVERDALE, Christopher MAIZE, Lee JONES, Cado LEE Ka-to, Ben RIMENE, Tomasi LAWA, Jason JEYAM, Rowan VARTY, Ryan MEACHEAM, Salom YIU Kam-shing.

Hong Kong VII (women): 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.