The Hong Kong Rugby Union announced its squads for the upcoming Asia Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Incheon, South Korea (24-25 September). The third and final tournament will be held in Sri Lanka in October.

Coach Gareth Baber’s men’s squad will look to carry on from a convincing cup winning performance in Hong Kong earlier this month. Baber has named a largely unchanged squad for the second of three tilts this season with forward Mark Wright coming in for James Cunningham in the only change to the side.

“JC [Cunningham] picked up an injury in the first leg and was out of training for a couple of weeks so we felt he wasn’t just right for this leg. Fortunately we were able to call Mark up. Mark is really combative and likes the contact area. He’s hugely experienced having been in numerous Asian Games and qualifiers and he has huge respect amongst the guys and provides good leadership on the pitch. That experience will be important considering we are away in a very tough pool,” said Baber.

Hong Kong is in the pool of death sitting atop group A with hosts South Korea - who will test Hong Kong’s mettle even further playing in front of their home audience - Japan and Chinese Taipei. Sri Lanka tops pool B ahead of China, Malaysia and Singapore.

“It’s a tough pool. With the way the seedings work from the first tournament Japan ended up with us and Korea. It will be challenging but for us to get the most we can from this competition we want to play as many tough games as possible. Win or lose we want to be challenged,” Baber said.

Baber knows the team will have targets on their backs after claiming the season’s first silverware: “If we show the same form as we did in Hong Kong, we will be fine. Having won we have laid down the challenge for other teams in terms of our levels and from my experience on the Series the other teams will respond to that.”

Japan already seems to have strengthened its side after crashing to the plate competition in Hong Kong bringing rangy back Jamie Henry into the side as well as a new group of untested youngsters as they look to build depth for the 2020 Olympics.

“We have to keep our momentum going from the opening leg. Yes we won but it was only the first tournament and we were at home. It was a good start but we need to keep our heads about us and make sure we do enough to stay a step ahead of everyone else,” Baber concluded.

The men’s Series results will determine the Asian teams participating in the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens’ World Rugby Sevens Series qualifiers in 2017, with the top two teams advancing to the 12-team qualifier next April. This year’s Asian champion will also earn an invite to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Singapore.

Women’s Seven target first Cup final of season

After finishing third in the opening leg coach Anna Richards is out to go one better in Korea, but a challenging pool could complicate matters. Hong Kong is in Pool C with Japan, Singapore and Uzbekistan. China top Pool D ahead of Thailand, South Korea and Guam.

Richards has also stuck with the core group that featured in Hong Kong’s third place finish earlier this month, making just two changes to the team. 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 continues to rotate 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.

While a top three finish is always the primary objective, Richards is hoping to go one better in Korea: “We always want to make the top three but principally our goal is to reach the finals and give ourselves a shot to win. It will be tough because Japan and China again demonstrated that they are quality sides.”

Richards believes that target is within reach as long as her charges can hold serve. “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.

For Richards, captain Christy Cheng Ka-chi and vice captain Natasha Olson-Thorne have a 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: 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.

Hong Kong Men’s Seven for Korea Sevens: Max WOODWARD (Captain), Mark WRIGHT, Michael COVERDALE, Christopher MAIZE, Lee JONES, Cado LEE Ka-to, Ben RIMENE, Alex McQUEEN, Tom McQUEEN, Rowan VARTY, Ryan MEACHEAM, Salom YIU Kam-shing.