PUBLISHED ON 06 MAR 2025
Hong Kong China Men's and Women's Sevens teams remain in Cape Town, South Africa, for Leg 2 of the HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025. The action continues on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 March, just six days after the opening leg. After the first leg our men are 9th place in the standings with our women in 10th place.
Following this leg, the top 8 men’s and women’s teams in the standings will advance to Leg 3 in Krakow, Poland (11-12 April). This stage will determine the four teams qualifying for the HSBC SVNS Playoff in Los Angeles (3-4 May), where a place in the HSBC SVNS Series 2026 is on the line.
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Results and Standings
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Watch Live
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Hong Kong China Maches
Each Pool has three teams, with the schedule for Friday's first day shown below:
- Japan Men 19-17 Hong Kong China
- Czechia Women 19-24 Hong Kong China
- Chile Men 24-7 Hong Kong China
- Argentina Women 34-5 Hong Kong China
Saturday Schedule (Results will be added here)
On Saturday a series of Semi Final and Final matches played to determine the 1-12 standings for the tournament.
- Hong Kong China Men 24-19 Brazil (9th Place Semi Final)
- Hong Kong China Women 26-21 Samoa (9th Place Semi Final)
- Madagascar Men 24-10 Hong Kong China (9th Place Final)
- Hong Kong China Women 5-31 Belgium (9th Place Final)
DAY 2 REVIEW
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2 final results saw Hong Kong China Men and Women both finish in 10th place at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday 8 March.
Head Coach of the Hong Kong China 7s Programme, Paul John, said after the weekend, “The main lesson from a playing point of view, is that Sevens is a difficult sport to win all your games in. It's very difficult because anybody can beat anybody. If you disrespect the game, it will beat you, let alone what opposition you're playing against."
Hong Kong China Men 24-19 Brazil (9th Place Semi Final)
Brazil opened the scoring twice to lead halfway through the opening half and a third try made it look like a daunting task with the South Americans leading 19-0.
There were some opportunities for Hong Kong China as a great steal and attack with an overlap looked promising but a knocked-on ball foiled the move. A score before the half was vital for the boys and Cado Lee ran in the try for our first points before the halftime hooter to leave the score 7-19.
After halftime an excellent inside switch allowed Max Denmark to cross over to close the gap on the lead and the Hong Kong China levelled the scores straight away from the restart through Ally Nardoni with 3 minutes left.
As the time was running out, Liam Herbert spotted the gap off a ruck and ran in the fourth try to seal the comeback win 24-19 and set up a 9th place match versus Madagascar, who had already secured a top-8 spot and trip to Krakow in April
Madagascar Men 24-10 Hong Kong China (9th Place Final)
The second game against the African side within a week started close and physical and early on Harry Sayers was given a yellow card. The opposition ran in two scores as they took full advantage of the extra player and were leading 12-0 before they grabbed a third try on the halftime hooter.
Things were just not quite gelling with 50-50 passes and the boys’ accuracy overall as they trailed at the half. Max Denmark gave signs of a comeback as he scored a good team try and then added his brace out wide which made for tough conversions as we were 17-10 behind.
Some rather fortunate calls for the African side put Hong Kong China under pressure and as the side gave away some loose passes, Madagascar ran in the final score to end the contest 24-10.
Paul John reacted, “There are lots of lessons, but the basic ingredient of this game is hard work and desire. You can have everything else in place, and we had everything else in place, and it just boils down to not letting your mind beat you. I said we beat ourselves unfortunately, that's what happened this weekend.”
Captain James Christie added, “Some of the best teams have those blips and it's about how you bounce back and I know we will bounce back."
Hong Kong China Women 26-21 Samoa (9th Place Semi Final)
Co-captain Chloe Chan opened the scoring against the big physical Samoan side who the girls had beaten last weekend in Leg 1, with Rosie Wright successfully converting.
It was very fierce at the breakdown as the Pacific Islanders used their power and Hong Kong China struggled to handle the Samoans, but did enough to disrupt their pick-and-go’s from the rucks. Sabay Lynam had a great run and quick work from a penalty saw Shanna Forest cross for a converted try and a 14-0 lead.
Samoa got a converted score just before the half to leave us at 14-7 going into the break.
Samoa had been aggressively clearing out at the rucks but eventually got penalised for coming in from the side, and the quick thinking Chong Ka Yan tapped and ran in a converted try. Samoa nearly scored immediately after but there was some great defensive work from Sabay Lynam to stop a certain try and the team’s support then earned a penalty.
Samoa stole a lineout ball and scored to close the gap to 21-14 with minutes remaining and unfortunately, an injury to Chong Ka Yan followed as she tried to break free for another solo try and was stretchered off.
Samoa tied it up under the posts but a great passage of play by Hong Kong China resulted in another try. An unexpected ball won from a Samoa scrum, saw co-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne run at the heart of the Samoan defence before putting Jess Eden away to score and win the game 26-21.
Hong Kong China Women 5-31 Belgium (9th Place Final)
Hong Kong China started the final game with only ten players including the bench as the back-to-back weekends took their toll. The girls started well and nearly created a scoring opportunity but the ball was just knocked on, but they had another chance and scored a well-worked try through Steph Chan to lead 5-0. Most of the half was played in Belgian territory but they also held on to the ball well.
The European side eventually worked the ball well wide and scored from the edge to lead 7-5. The Belgians won a turnover and crossed over again to lead 14-5 at halftime.
Hong Kong China started the half well in the contest but had to put in a huge defensive shift and eventually they struggled to contain Belgium’s big ball carriers and the Europeans added three more tries in the half to run out 29-5 winners.
Paul John said the women had performed well across the two legs and were unlucky with how the pool results played out this weekend. “Those are the fine lines, and I feel for the girls because I think they performed well at times and achieved some good wins.”
Hong Kong China Women’s 7s Head Coach Andy Vilk said of the two legs, “The girls were involved in some very physical matchups and were hitting above their weight with how they play physically and how they play smart which has been very pleasing to see. I think we showed some consistency across these two legs in terms of our performances.
“Also, just everyone backing each other up as yesterday was a real emotional rollercoaster and Sevens tournaments are sometimes like that, so to see the girls pick themselves up today was very encouraging.”
This Day 2 Review was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asian Rugby news!
DAY 1 REVIEW
The first day of the Leg 2 of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 produced heartache for Hong Kong China teams, despite both displaying resilient character at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on 7 March.
Hong Kong China Women beat Czechia in pool play and then faced a physical Argentine side who came out 32-7 winners. This meant the girls were heading to play in the 5-8th bracket and still very much in the battle for a top-8 finish and qualification for the third leg in Krakow in April – but a shock Czechia win over Argentina meant they cruelly finished bottom of the pool due to points difference.
Hong Kong China Men lost a nailbiter to Japan to start the day, meaning the boys had to beat Chile to have a chance of staying in the running. In the end they lost 7-24 to last week’s winners, which effectively ended the team’s chances of making Krakow In April and with it our Challenger Series ambitions.
Japan Men 19-17 Hong Kong China
Pooled with the Leg 1 champions, Chile, as well as Japan in Pool A, it was always going to be a challenging day for from the moment the two Asian teams were drawn in the same pool; drama and heartache were nearly guaranteed and it was Hong Kong China men who suffered the latter with a close loss after the hooter to Japan.
The only change from this weekend’s squad was the inclusion of James Christie coming in having recovered from injury, while Michael Coverdale dropped out having picked up a knock in the first leg.
Hong Kong China started well and after early phases, Max Denmark opened the score for a 5-0 lead. This was followed by a good restart and the side had some dominance in possession and territory, the returning captain James Christie scored a converted try for a 12-0 lead.
Japan showed how dangerous they could be with the ball in hand and a last-ditch tackle from Hong Kong China stopped a certain Japanese try. Christie nearly got a second score from a kick behind the Japanese defence near the end of the half. A dangerous tackle after hooter by Japan led to a scrum for our men and the set move resulted in a great step inside by Harry Sayers to extend the lead 17-0 at the break.
The second half proved to be a complete turnaround. Japan worked the ball well to overload the left side and scored their first points to make it 17-7 and some small mistakes started to creep in as Japanese pressure forced handling errors before running in a second try to make it 17-12 with 2 minutes left.
With time running out, Japan scored in the right-hand side after the hooter to tie it up, and with a tough kick to win it, Kota Nakama nailed it to convert his own try and snatch the win.
Although the result made qualification even tougher, with a win over Chile the boys could still sneak into the top 8.
Chile Men 24-7 Hong Kong China
The opening minutes of the must-win contest were tight, but Chile, who are a quality side, found space down the right side and despite a valiant Max Denmark tackle just about made it to the line to lead 5-0.
Hong Kong China were forced to defend for their lives, and they created opportunities and showed great defence in Chile’s 22m area and forced a penalty – but despite nearly scoring, Chile turned the ball over and shortly after Bryn Philipps was shown a yellow card.
Chile ran in a second try with the extra man to lead 12-0 but the boys came back strongly and scored through James Christie to close it up to 12-7 at the break.
In the second half, Hong Kong China forced a knock-on and broke away but Chile won back possession from a forced pass and intercepted to nearly score. The match official judged it to be illegal and a yellow card was issued to Harry Sayers, as well as a penalty try, which meant the Leg 1 champions led 19-7.
Hong Kong China never gave up but were chasing the scoreboard as time ran down – they nearly scored late but Chile won the ball against the head at the scrum and ran down the field to secure the win with the final score 24-7 and ended hopes of finishing in the top 8.
Czechia Women 19-24 Hong Kong China
There was one change in Hong Kong China side with Viv (Hoi Yan) Poon coming in and Nam Ka Man dropping out in the second leg. The girls had faced Czechia last week and narrowly lost 19-26 and were fired up to win the game and keep their top-8 hopes alive.
Hong Kong China started with intent and opening scores from co-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne and a second with an excellent break and step inside from Sabay Lynam built up a 12-0 lead.
A yellow card was issued to co-captain Chloe Chan after preventing a Czechia try, but the Europeans ran the ball wide to score and made it 12-7. The Czechians over-kicked the restart and quick thinking from the girls saw them restart at pace from the halfway and Chong Ka Yan scored to make it 19-7 at the half.
Czechia again made a mistake from the restart and kicked the ball out on full to start the half and Hong Kong China took the quick tap and kicked the ball through, earned a penalty and scored their 4th try, with Chong Ka Yan getting a brace for a 24-7 lead.
Czechia pulled back two scores and with the scoreline at 24-19, the girls put in a great defensive shift to win the ball and kick the ball dead to secure an opening-day win.
After the match Coach Robbie Fergusson said; “They took massive confidence from that game against Czechia last week and the overriding emotion is frustration at missed opportunities and we spoke a lot about that during the week. We spoke about what it means to this group to try and push on and it showed in that performance.
“Sevens is a game of moments and you can see when the opposition gets momentum, so for the girls to dig in and look after each other, and the players speak a lot about the sisterhood and protecting each other, but we could see it in the last 90 seconds of that win”.
Argentina Women 32-7 Hong Kong China
Argentina were runners-up last week and one of the four sides that went to the promotion-relegation tournament last season – they showed early on that they play direct and are a confrontational team, but Hong Kong China were brave in stopping their big runners early in the contest.
As the South Americans started to control the possession they showed their power game and ran in three tries to lead 17-0 at halftime.
As much as the girls tried to stay in the fight, Argentina won the breakdown contest and with their pace and power ran out to lead 34-0 with a couple minutes left.
After a period of possession and high-tempo attack, Hong Kong China forced multiple penalties and eventually, the Argentines were yellow-carded for repeat infringements. Jess Ho helped create the try and knocked over the conversion for an eventual 32-7 full time score.
Reflecting on the Friday's two games, scrumhalf Jess Ho said:
“I think in the win over Czechia we really played and showed who we were and we can be proud of that performance. There is no such thing as a perfect game of rugby but we came out of that match feeling really proud and did everything we could and we were physical when we needed to be. Some of that physicality dropped off in that second game, and even though Argentina is a bigger side, we have shown before that we can tackle anyone and be dominant against bigger teams but we were lacking in that loss which is a real shame not to have built on that first game.”
On the team's overall position after three competition days in Cape Town, she added:
“For us not to finish minimum in that top 8 last week was really disappointing, especially as there were some really close games and it was the bare minimum coming into this. We knew we were better than where we placed in Leg 1 and I think we have proven that to the other teams and to ourselves today. We don't know who will play tomorrow but it doesn't matter – we still have to play the way we want to play and that's important for us. Any side we face tomorrow we will be happy with, and will be ready for the fight.”
This Day 1 Review was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asian Rugby news!
Squads
Men
Squad Number. Player (Club)
1. Alessandro NARDONI (HK Scottish)
4. Matteo AVITABILE (HKFC)
5. Harry SAYERS (Valley)
6. LEE Ka To Cado (USRC Tigers)
7. Jack COMBES (USRC Tigers)
8. Max DENMARK (HKFC)
9. James CHRISTIE – Captain – (HK Scottish)
10. Bryn PHILLIPS (Kowloon)
11. Liam HERBERT (USRC Tigers)
12. FONG Kit Fung (Kowloon)
13. Blake ELLIOT (USRC Tigers)
15. Liam DOHERTY (HK Scottish)
Women
Squad Number. Player (Club)
1. Shanna FORREST (Kowloon)
2. AU YEUNG Sin Yi (USRC Tigers)
3. Chloe CHAN – Co-Captain – (Valley)
4. PUN Wai Yan (Gai Wu)
6. Natasha OLSON-THORNE – Co-Captain – (USRC Tigers)
7. POON Hoi Yan (USRC Tigers)
8. Sabay LYNAM (Kowloon)
9. HO Jessica Wai On (USRC Tigers)
10. CHAN Stephanie Chor Ki (Gai Wu)
11. CHONG Ka Yan (USRC Tigers)
12. Jess EDEN (Valley)
15. Rosie Wright (HKFC)
Hong Kong China headed to the two legs in Cape Town with 14 men and 13 women in the travelling squad.
