HKCR U20 LOSE CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH BRAZIL AT U20 CHALLENGER CUP

Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) lost its second match of the World Rugby U20 Challenger Cup against Brazil, 22-10.  
 

The selectors largely kept faith in their starting 23 from game one, but rotated several players between the starters and reserves bench. 
 

Pang Ho Man came into the starting XV at tighthead prop with Hugo Poole moving to loosehead and hooker Morgan Hanson starting with Davy Chiu on the bench for Brazil. Fritz Mahn moved to lock from flanker, partnering Sam Blackburn, with Liam Gordon, Andrew Stratton and co-captain Kai Tiltman at No.8 in the back row.  Co-captain and scrumhalf Gabe Horberry led a largely unchanged backline, with Liam Jordan at 10, Jack Joyce at inside centre and Ciaran Pollard at outside centre. Tivizio Depoid and Oliver Fisher were wing and fullback respectively, with Kyle Wong getting the start at wing for game two with Kurtis Liu moving to the reserves bench. 
 

Hong Kong trailed Brazil 12-5 at half-time in what was a significantly improved performance from game one, when they were trailed by 20 points after the first 20 minutes.  After kick-tennis from both sides in the early stages, the first half would end up being an open and entertaining affair with both teams creating chances. 
 

Hong Kong played by far the prettier rugby with several long periods on attack that saw the ball travel through multiple pairs of hands and at impressive pace, while Brazil opted for a more traditional physical style with short carries and setting up attacks off of set piece play. 

Despite some excellent support play from Hong Kong, they couldn’t find a finish in the opening phases, and struggled to break down Brazil’s defence in their own 22-metres. The team’s best effort in the opening quarter came off of one of two classy line breaks from centre Ciaran Pollard on the day. The first found lock Fritz Mahn charging through. Mahn crossed the tryline but was held up in the tackle. 
 

Brazil’s scores were more staid affairs, both coming off of lineout platform attacks. On both occasions, Brazil faked the driving maul, but pulled back to run it in the wide channels as they relied on their big ball carriers to punch the ball over the line on second and third phase. 
 

They managed to do that twice in the final quarter, a period where Hong Kong’s indiscipline saw them concede several penalties to assist Brazil’s march into scoring positions.  After starting positively in the penalty stakes in the opening quarter, Hong Kong would concede 15 penalties to Brazil’s nine in the match.

Outside of the lineout attacks, Hong Kong’s defence held its own and the forward pack established parity in the scrum.  
 

On attack, it only looked a matter of time before Hong Kong would see its line breaks put men in the clear for tries.  
 

That happened for the first time in the 41st minute when winger Tivizio Depoid made something from nothing of a Jack Joyce outlet pass at halfway. Depoid put in an outrageous juke to wrongfoot his opposite number and found himself with nothing but space between him and the tryline as he raced for an untouched score in the corner at halftime. Joyce could not kick the conversion but Hong Kong had narrowed the gap and reclaimed momentum at 12-5 heading into halftime.

More indiscipline to start the second half helped Brazil to a quick try after the restart, as an offsides penalty, followed by a high tackle, helped the South Americans march upfield into their attacking lineout posture. They again faked the driving maul and worked the ball off the back to create a mismatch of forwards against backs as they crashed over for the third try of the game to push the lead to 17-5.

Brazil gifted Hong Kong an opportunity moments later with an offsides penalty allowing Joyce to kick for the lineout deep in Brazil’s territory. Hong Kong collected the ball and began the driving maul but somehow had the ball stripped by Brazil who kicked to touch to clear their lines.

Hong Kong finally struck gold on one of its counter-attacks when fullback Oliver Fisher did well to keep his feet after claiming a Brazilian kick up pitch. Fisher wriggled out of contact to offload the ball to flanker Liam Gordon, whose quick hands immediately found Sam Blackburn waiting out wide. Blackburn finished the final 50-metres for a rapid fire strike that brought Hong Kong back to within a converted try at 17-10 inside the last half hour.

In a disappointing reversal, Brazil put HKCR under pressure from the restart, earning a penalty deep in Hong Kong’s half which they poked to the corner for another lineout. They scored on the ensuing well executed maul try to push further ahead at 22-10.  
 

With subs coming on Hong Kong’s lineout lost its shape at a key point late in the game with two lineouts going to Brazilian hands as the South Americans craftily controlled possession late to snuff out Hong Kong’s chances.

“We are obviously very disappointed,” said No.8 and co-captain Kai Tiltman who had another strong performance today playing the full 80 minutes and providing an important link point between forwards and backs on attack.

“We had a tough first game against Chile and we really wanted to bounce back and get a win today. Full credit to Brazil, they were more physical than us and they deserved the win today, but it has been an awesome experience for us to be here and it is really good for the next generation of Hong Kong China Rugby,” added Tiltman.

Hosts Chile are joined by Hong Kong China, Brazil and Romania in Pool A, while Pool B features Canada, Namibia, Belgium and Portugal.  
 

With Hong Kong holding its own against Brazil, they will harbour realistic hopes of a win over Romania in their final pool match before the crossover rounds on 17 October. Romania beat Brazil by a single point in the opening round. Hong Kong China will play Romania on Monday 12 October at 1000 Chile time. Matches are available to watch on RugbyPass TV. 
 

HKCR vs Brazil

1. Hugo POOLE 2. Morgan HANSON; 3. PANG Ho Man William 4. Fritz MAHN; 5. Sam BLACKBURN; 6. Liam GORDON; 7. Andrew STRATTON; 8. Kai TILTMAN (co-captain); 9. Gabe HORBERRY (co-captain); 10. Liam JORDAN; 11. Tivizio DEPOID 12. Jack JOYCE; 13. Ciarán POLLARD; 14. WONG Ka Yiu Kyle; 15. Oliver FISHER; 16. LEUNG Kun Hei Austin; 17. Yat Fu CHIU Davy 18. LI Tin Bob 19. LU Ho Sun Jeremy 20. Noah REID; 21. LIU Cong Sum Kurtis 22. Leonardo CHURCH 23. Max REED.