PUBLISHED ON 12 NOV 2025
Hong Kong Men's 7s are in action at the National Games at Kai Tak Stadium from 12-14 November.
Tickets are still available online for each day of the competition. The ticketing website only operates in Chinese language, however fans wanted to purchase in English language can head to one of 10 official ticketing centres spread around Hong Kong (click here for all event and ticketing information).
Results and match reaction will follow below each day. Fans can also check out the event photo gallery here (link to follow).
Pools (Men)
- A1 Shandong, A2 Tianjin, A3 Inner Mongolia, A4 Hong Kong
- B1 Jiangsu, B2 Beijing, B3 Hebei, B4 Chongqing
Wednesday 12 November
- 4:30PM, Match 8, Shandong 12-24 Hong Kong Men, Pool A
- 8PM, Match 15, Tianjin vs Hong Kong Men, Pool A
Thursday 13 November
- 4PM, Match 23, Inner Mongolia vs Hong Kong Men, Pool A
- 6PM / 6:30PM / 8PM / 8:30PM, Hong Kong Men, Knockout Stage (opposition TBD)
Friday 14 November 2025
- 6PM / 7PM / 8PM / 9PM, Hong Kong Men Playoff Match (opposition TBD)
- 9:40PM, Presentation Ceremony
Results and Reaction
Pool Match 1 - Shandong 12-24 Hong Kong Men
Hong Kong Men opened up against a Shandong side raring to go and looking to inflict a loss on the home side. The boys kicked off and regathered the ball before we moved it from coast to coast with great interplay for Bryn Phillips to score within 90 seconds.
The boys nearly scored down the left flank again from the restart, but for the smallest of knock-ons. On the first real defensive set, the team won a turnover and called for a scrum and again nearly scored down the right but were denied.
Co-captain Seb Brien did get the team's second score with an interception with four minutes left to halftime and an excellent conversion for a 12-0 lead.
We were winning the restarts, and the team's composure ensured a third try scored by Callum McCullough with a great cross-field kick and hands shown by his teammates. Shandong did strike back late in the half with a scoreline of 19-7 at the break.
Hong Kong won the collisions and breakdown to start the half and kicked downfield looking to extend the lead, but another small error stopped the momentum.
Although the boys had less of the ball, Shandong were kept pinned in their 22m and forced to make mistakes. A Shandong full field break took a real team effort, with half a dozen tackles just denying the opposition a certain try inches short.
The boys then had to defend our line, and a TMO check had to be called to see if Shandong were denied on our try line, and it was initially deemed so, thanks to a double tackle, but then it was awarded in a confusing minute. This meant Hong Kong led by just 19-12 with two and a half minutes remaining.
Superb interplay in the midfield created an opportunity, and cynical play from the Shandong defender saw him yellow-carded. A wide ball from the ensuing scrum saw Fong Kit-Fung score to seal the win 24-12.
Bryn Phillips said after the result, “They were good and kept on coming and had good linespeed and were very passionate, and it was hard to play around them and they were well up for it. We need to focus on ourselves and recover, and do what we do well. We have threats out wide and threats all over, so we need to recycle quickly and play the game we know we can play."
Head Coach Jevon Groves commented after the win, “We need to work on our management of that middle part of the game. We started really well, but we dropped off in the middle part. We want to inspire people and put in performances Hong Kong can be proud of and sit up and take notice of.
"We can achieve that physically and creatively. With nine-minute halves, it is physically demanding with this number of games over three days, and we hope people can support us and get behind us. We need to be at the top of our game to compete with these teams, and we want to give it our all to help promote the game in Hong Kong, China and Asia.”
Pool Match 2 - Tianjin 0-50 Hong Kong Men
Hong Kong Men finished the day with a big win. The scoring started when Bryn Phillips executed a great chip and chase which let Harry Sayers break free and he offloaded to Max Denmark who powered down the touch line before cutting inside the last man to bag his first try of the tournament.
Tianjin looked to bounce back with a score of their own but for a try-saving tackle and turnover from Michael Coverdale, 5 metres from our tryline. Moments later Denmark was on the score sheet again after another strong line break from Sayers before the ball moved left to Alessandro Nardoni and the final offload to Denmark who scored and Phillips converted.
We had to defend before winning a penalty and opted for a scrum. Cado Lee and Phillips showed good interplay, with the latter kicking to the corner, and who else but Max Denmark collected and scored for his hat trick and a 19-0 lead.
In the final seconds of the half, Sayers scored a try - the team’s fourth. The conversion hit the upright and missed but we had a healthy 24-0 advantage and Tianjin were down to six with a yellow card.
The second half saw both sides reduced to six players as Michael Coverdale went to the bin for Hong Kong. Our boys had to defend well and secured a vital penalty to relieve pressure. A smart penalty tap saw Fong Kit Fung score on the edge and extend the lead to 29-0.
We were attacking from the kick and co-captain Seb Brien ducked under the arms of a tackler and ran it in from 40 metres out with Matthew Rickard converting.
Tianjin found it tough to handle our restarts and we again regained possession. Matthew Rickard beat the defender with quick feet to dot it down and convert his own try. Another good restart meant Seb Brien caught the Tianjin defenders off guard and he ran in his second which Rickard slotted for the 50-0 win.
Max Denmark said after the team topped the pool with a big win, "It was pretty tough playing this longer format, it really put a stress on your fitness so I am happy our coaches concentrated on that over recent weeks. I think we are the fittest we have ever been preparing for this tournament.
"For tomorrow, I hope we win our final pool game and move into the playoffs in a good position.”
The men’s final pool A game on Thursday is against Inner Mongolia.
