The Hong Kong Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams have advanced to the Cup quarter finals after day one of the Sri Lanka Sevens, the final event on this year’s Asian Sevens Series. The Hong Kong men will face Chinese Taipei in their cup quarter final tomorrow while the women will face Kazakhstan.

The Women’s Seven who entered the tournament as the top seeds overall split their matches today with a 5-7 loss to Thailand and a 15-5 loss to Japan bookending a 52-0 demolition of Uzbekistan.

Ahead of the tournament, Women’s Sevens coach Anna Richards expected all of the teams to have improved after the five week lay-off between women’s tournaments. The prophecy came true early on as Hong Kong dropped their opening match to a Thai seven that put on a superb defensive display to get an early win.

Great rush defence by the Thais limited Hong Kong’s possession in the first half. Thailand capitalized on one of Hong Kong’s few defensive errors to find the gap for a try in the fourth minute. The conversion put the Thais ahead 7-0.

Hong Kong replied in the second half after a clever kick and chase from Aggie Poon Pak Yan created space on the outside for Nam Ka Man to cross over in the corner. Poon couldn’t convert from a difficult angle and Hong Kong trailed the Thais 5-7.

Shortly after Hong Kong’s try, Natasha Olson-Thorne went down with an injury in-play and was not able to return to the action, nor was Hong Kong able to get a substitution on without a break in play. As a result, the Thais were able to control the game with a man advantage for over one minute as the clock ticked away. The substitution of Olson-Thorne could only come at the next stoppage, which ultimately was a yellow card against Hong Kong captain Christy Cheng after a tough call from referee Norman Drake. Hong Kong played six against seven for nearly the entire second half, allowing the Thais to escape with the win.

Hong Kong rebounded strongly in its second match against Uzbekistan, a 52-0 win. Vice-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne, who showed great fortitude and pain tolerance by playing with injury throughout the day, opened the scoring early with a try that was converted by Aggie Poon.

Poon then accounted for the next three tries. Her natural hat-trick was punctuated by a fifth score in the half, this time from Sham Wai Sum. Poon’s four first-half conversions gave Hong Kong a 33-0 lead at the break. Further scoring in the second half saw tries from Stephanie Cuvelier, a second for Sham Wai Sum, and for Colleen Tjosvold, bringing the final to 52-0 after Tjosvold’s two conversions.

In the climactic women’s match of day one, Japan jumped out to an early and ultimately unassailable 15-0 lead in the first half. Hong Kong’s only reply came early in the second half after some great pressure defence by the SAR forced Japan to cough up the ball deep in their half. Christy Cheng stripped the ball and worked it out wide to Natasha Olson-Thorne, who crashed over for a try before again subbing off with injury.

The results see Hong Kong advance to a challenging cup quarter final tie with Kazakhstan, a perennial contender in Asian women’s sevens tomorrow at 12.20pm (HK time). Japan, who topped Hong Kong’s pool, and China, who topped pool X, will have easier match-ups, playing Singapore and Uzbekistan respectively. Thailand will play the hosts Sri Lanka in the last of tomorrow’s women’s quarter-finals.

In the men’s competition, Hong Kong overcame a nervy start against China, who upended the SAR in the Series opener in Qingdao in September, to record a 29-14 win in their opening match.

China scored from the opening kick-off, turning the Hong Kong defence for an easy try. The conversion saw Hong Kong trailing 7-0 with under a minute played. Hong Kong replied shortly thereafter with a try from Alex McQueen, who remains one of the unheralded stars of Hong Kong’s men’s sevens side. McQueen corralled a beautifully weighted chip from flyhalf Jamie Hood to cross over in the corner but Hood’s conversion was wide, leaving Hong Kong trailing 7-5.

China scored again from the re-start - setting off a see-saw first half with both sides exchanging blows. The conversion extended China’s lead to 14-5 before McQueen’s influence was felt again, this time creating his side’s second try after leaping on a loose ball from a China line-out to put Rowan Varty into space for a long score. Hood’s second missed conversion left Hong Kong trailing 10-14.

China nearly scored for a third time off the re-start but McQueen was on the spot again, putting in the try-saving (and illegal) tackle to keep China off the board. McQueen was sent to the sin-bin for his efforts as Hong Kong cleared its lines to bring on the half.

Hong Kong made a strong statement immediately after the start of play with Jamie Hood orchestrating a solid attacking platform before being felled by a high tackle; Hood’s movement was finished nicely by Salom Yiu Kam Shing whose try put Hong Kong ahead 15-14.

Keith Robertson came on while Hood was being attended to, marking his first action since the Asian Games. Hood and McQueen both returned to the action at the start of the second half. Robertson’s ‘X-factor’ reputation was confirmed once again, when he spotted the gap outside for a looping pass to put McQueen into space for his second try of the match. A heavily bandaged Hood struck the conversion to put Hong Kong ahead 22-14. Cado Lee Ka To gave Hong Kong its first measure of revenge over China with a late try with Hood’s conversion completing the scoring, 29-14.

In the day’s second match against China, (Kazakhstan’s withdrawal leaving these two as the only sides in the pool), Hong Kong left no room for doubt - despite nearly conceding an opening kick-off try to the mainland seven. Great defence by the veterans Rowan Varty and Nick Hewson prevented China from building early momentum as they wrapped up the Chinese attack deep in Hong Kong’s half.

From there the squad never looked back, with the veteran seven on the pitch making an emphatic statement about their intentions. Relentless pressure led to China first conceding a penalty try, followed by a try from the hard-charging captain Max Woodward, before Keith Robertson darted around the defence to cross over from in close. Two conversions from Hood put Hong Kong up 19-0 at the break. Cado Lee picked up his second try of the afternoon in the second half to complete the scoring at 24-0.

Hong Kong will now advance to a favourable quarter final versus Chinese Taipei tomorrow (2.56pm Hong Kong time), while China will face off against Series leaders Japan. Thailand will play Malaysia and Sri Lanka will play South Korea in the other cup quarterfinals.

Hong Kong Men’s Sevens Squad (Thailand Sevens):

Max WOODWARD (captain); Christopher MAIZE; LEE Ka To, Cado; Michael COVERDALE; Nicholas HEWSON; Calvin HUNTER; Keith ROBERTSON*; Alex MCQUEEN; Jamie HOOD; Rowan VARTY; YIU Kam Shing, Salom; Jack CAPON*.

Hong Kong Women’s Sevens Squad (Sri Lanka): CHENG Ka Chi, Christy (captain); Natasha OLSON-THORNE (vice captain); NAM Ka Man; Candy CHENG Tsz Ting; Aggie POON Pak Yan; SHAM Wai Sum; Colleen TJOSVOLD; Stephanie CUVELIER; KWONG Sau Yan; Lindsay VARTY*; Adrienne GARVEY*; LEE Tsz Ting*.

*2015 Asia Rugby Sevens Series debut