The HKRU men’s and women’s sevens squads remain in contention to advance to tomorrow’s cup semi finals at the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in South Korea.

The women continued to hone their edge with a strong outing, as they breezed past Sri Lanka, 41-0, before giving Japan all it could handle in the afternoon in one of the matches of the day.

Hong Kong fought tooth and nail against Asia’s Olympians holding Japan to a 12-all draw after seven minutes of end-to-end action.  Aggie Poon Pak-yan finished off two strong attacks in the first act, as Hong Kong hustled about the park, recycling possession well to erase 7-0 and 12-7 deficits to level matters at the hooter.

The second half offered more lung-busting stuff with both sides fighting each other to a standstill as play ranged from end to end. Ultimately it was Japan’s Honoka Tsutsumi who broke the impasse, after rounding Chong Ka-yan on the corner to push the lead to 19-12 in the ninth minute. Hong Kong couldn’t close the gap, while Japan added a fourth score late to bring the total to 24-12.

A victory over Korea in the final pool game would likely see coach Kevin West’s charges cross over into the cup semi finals with Kazakhstan, after they toppled China earlier.

West was pleased with his side’s performance, saying, “It was a good opening day, particularly in terms of the contributions from the entire squad, not just the starting seven, but the impact players as well. Everyone got good game time and made significant contributions.”

Aggie Poon figured as Hong Kong’s top scorer after day one with three tries and four conversions while Melody Li, Nim-yan added a brace of tries.

“We had a good start against Sri Lanka and backed that up against Japan, in a game where there wasn’t a lot of difference between the two sides,” West added.

“We can take a lot of heart from that performance against Japan. We put them under pressure on defence and generated good go-forward momentum. We trusted our defence a bit and produced some decent one-on-one tackling.

“Most importantly, we showed a lot of calmness and clarity. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing and sticking to our process and systems for the entire 14 minutes and that result will come.”

Men’s coach Paul John rued a lack of challenges after day one a fortnight ago at Hong Kong Football Club but got what he was after today, as strengthened South Korea and Sri Lanka sides ran Hong Kong close in a heated hunt for top of the pool honours.

Korea, laden with familiar national team stars after a disappointing seventh place finish in the opening round, still couldn’t shake Hong Kong but made things interesting as they clawed back a 10 point lead before falling 15-12.

Sri Lanka were waiting in the wings ready feast on a wounded Hong Kong but a clinical first possession produced the first try for Hong Kong, with Jack Neville blasting through the middle for the score. Hong Kong fended off Sri Lanka’s first forays from structured play, but mid-way through the half the Tuskers found their opening. After Hong Kong were penalized for not releasing in the tackle near half-way, Sri Lanka produced a quick tap and go into space out wide as they levelled the scores at 7-all.

Sri Lanka showed their unerring ability to capitalize on broken play when veteran sevens player Srinath Sooriybandara scored from a beautifully weighted solo chip and chase, to snag the lead, 12-7.

Michael Coverdale put the game on his shoulders on either side of half-time, when he used his pace and bulk to force a breach in Sri Lanka’s defence, finishing with a lumbering 40-metre gallop that brought play deep into the Sri Lankan end. Hong Kong recycled quickly and Toby Fenn finished with the try to knot the score at 12-all after the missed conversion.

Coverdale was the hero again in the second half as he opened with a try to give Hong Kong back a lead they wouldn’t relinquish with Jamie Hood making the conversion to push the lead to 19-12. A yellow card against Sri Lanka in the second half eased traffic woes for Hong Kong as Jamie Hood added a try of before finishing with a spectacular kick-pass out wide for Max Denmark to collect as Hong Kong ran out 31-14 winners.

Hong Kong has a final clash against Chinese Taipei to secure top spot in the pool tomorrow.  

“We knew today would be tough and, as expected, it was a very good run out,” said coach Paul John.

“It’s Korea’s home tournament and they are much stronger as are Sri Lanka. We were good over the ball against Korea and got out to a lead and then let them back into the game. But we did well to recover and it’s a good lesson from our point of view.”

“We went down 14-7 to Sri Lanka, but the boys showed some good stuff from there on, again it was two hard games today. We have Taipei tomorrow and today showed that we can’t underestimate anyone. Our aim is to win the group and they are our way to that.”

John was pleased with the performance of the two fresh players entering the squad with Kane Boucaut, who resumes his regular place in the forward ranks, joined by Raef Morrison, marking his first senior sevens action in several years.

“They did well. Whenever they’ve come on they’ve made an impact, both of them. It’s good to see and it’s making things very competitive now. There’s competition for spaces throughout the squad.

“That’s what we want and we will all need to be firing again tomorrow.”

The women will play South Korea in their final pool match at 10.06, while the men play Chinese Taipei at 11.12 (all times Hong Kong time).