WOMEN SUBLIME IN SRI LANKA, MEN STILL ON TRACK DESPITE DAY ONE LOSS

16th Oct 2016

Despite a pool loss to Malaysia, the Hong Kong men’s sevens squad remain on track in their bid to claim a third Asian sevens title in five years after the first day of play in Sri Lanka. Hong Kong bounced back to hand South Korea a 26-15 defeat to advance to the cup competition and will play Sri Lanka - whom they have beaten in every cup final so far this season - in tomorrow’s semi (17.35 Hong Kong time).

Hong Kong’s Women’s Seven gathered steam throughout the day - edging Sri Lanka, 17-12, and blanking Singapore, 26-0, before a self-possessed 19-14 win over China saw them finish at the top of Pool C. 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 outfit that has posed problems for Hong Kong on 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 19-14 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’s men’s seven opened their bid for a third consecutive cup win against Japan. Lee Jones picked up where he left off on the team’s last outing - as the top try scorer in South Korea collected a brace of tries in the first half with Ben Rimene adding a third. Japan scored on either side of the half, both against the run of play, to shrink the deficit to 17-12 early in the second period, but Hong Kong soon regrouped and in ruthless fashion.

Ryan Meacheam started a late run as he collected a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass from Rimene to cross the whitewash untouched. Moments later, Chris Maize snagged a perfectly weighted chip kick behind the defence to saunter over unmolested as Hong Kong ran out 31-12 winners.

Hong Kong’s hopes of another easy march to the final were put on hold after a 19-14 loss to Malaysia. A hot start produced an early try from Rowan Varty and a 7-0 lead in the second minute but also seemed to lull Hong Kong into a false sense of security. In the fifth minute, Malaysia’s Zulkiflee Azmi made Hong Kong pay for some lacklustre effort as the veteran speedster bounced off two defenders to pull his side within two points after the conversion was wide.

Jason Jeyam, making his senior sevens debut this weekend, was omnipresent in his first start, and was rewarded for his effort after being put into space off a Lee Jones offload. Jeyam’s first senior try gave Hong Kong a 14-5 advantage at the break.

In the second half, Malaysia looked the calmer side and they coolly proceeded to score first through Azwan Mat Zizi. The conversion closed the gap to 14-12 with three minutes left. Hong Kong began to press matters and individual play led to crucial turnovers. Mat Zizi capitalised on one such miscue for his game-winning second try.

Hong Kong responded to the upset positively, handing South Korea a 26-10 loss in the final pool match, although it was a touch and go affair for most of the game as Korea trailed 12-10 at half-time. The Koreans used their height to good effect in the early stages, scoring off of the kick-off as Kim Jeong Min hacked the ball ahead three times and won the footrace to touch down in the expansive in-goal.

The Koreans continued to keep Hong Kong off balance at the re-starts but on the occasions that Hong Kong did secure ball they proved too much for their opponents. Varty was the first to exploit the defence, scoring in the corner to finish a pretty period of handling. Cado Lee Ka-to scored Hong Kong’s second in the same corner as Varty after a tenacious effort with the cagey scrumhalf using captain Max Woodward’s presence out wide as the perfect decoy before crashing through two defenders to extend the lead to 12-5.

The Koreans struck back late in the half after a speculative kick downfield paid off with a two-on-one attack against Woodward. The captain took his man cleanly but the offload put the Koreans over for the score as they trailed by two points at halftime.

In the second half, Hong Kong’s player of the series Lee Jones came to the fore again. Jones followed up some excellent close-in support play between Varty and Woodward to enter the line at the opportune moment. He took the pop pass cleanly and carried the ball - and three defenders - over for the try. Hong Kong pressure forced another breakdown late as a fly-hacked clearance attempt was collected at pace by Meacheam, who turned on the gas over the last 25-metres to score. Rimene’s conversion pushed Hong Kong’s lead to 26-10 before a consolation try closed the gap to 26-15.

Coach Gareth Baber was pleased that his side had come through: “We weren’t quite playing the way we have been playing today. We were definitely second best against Malaysia and got ourselves into a bit of a hole, but the players showed good responsibility to come back. We have had it our way in the last few tournaments but the benefit of being put under pressure is the response that you get out of the players. That was a very important win over Korea and we can take something from that into tomorrow.

Hong Kong will play Sri Lanka in the semi final. “Sri Lanka will be tough at home, but we will go into the match with some confidence after beating Korea and beating Sri Lanka earlier on the Series. But the reality is that that was a couple of games ago now and we will need to recreate that kind of form to advance,” Baber said.

Baber was also delighted with the women’s performance, saying, “I’m really pleased to see the women play the way they did against China. They have worked so hard this season and it is a just reward to see them finish on top of the pool today. We’re all excited to watch them tomorrow.”

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