Hong Kong capped a worthwhile trip to the Fiji Coral Coast Sevens with one win from three games on the final day on Saturday, however they could well have won all three. Hong Kong women also turned a highly creditable performance over the two days.

The men’s day began with a 19-14 loss to a Stars USA side that looked ripe for the picking, with Eric Kwok Pak-nga and Jack Neville finding the try line in a game that could have gone either way. They went on to win their shield semi-final against LomavataBlues 19-17 thanks to a double from Kane Boucaut, who used his size and strength to good effect throughout the tournament.

Hong Kong then suffered a disappointing 19-12 loss to Outrigger in the shield final despite at one point leading 12-0 after exploding out of the blocks in the searing Fijian heat. Boucaut was again in the tries and veteran winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing also found the line, however Hong Kong faded late after looking to be on track to return home with some hard-earned silverware.

“Overall we are really, really happy with the tournament because we pushed the two losing cup semi-finalists all the way,” Hong Kong coach Paul John said.

“The first game today I thought was probably our worst of the weekend, it’s not for a want of trying, we just made a lot of errors that tested our defence.

“The boys bounced back to get a win and I think we probably did enough to win in the last game, and overall we were much more competitive than we were last year with a new squad. If we can cope with this then that stands us in good stead.”

John hopes his side can build on their efforts in Sigatoka, with a trip to Borneo next on the agenda in the build-up to April’s Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

“That’s a good start but now we have got to somehow maintain some intensity in training and get the boys used to performing under pressure,” John said. “We made a lot of errors today that we didn’t yesterday and that’s from fatigue and being under pressure.”

John noted a marked improvement from last year’s trip to Fiji despite his side winning the same numberof matches, with the most promising sign being the fact they refused to lie down at any point over the two-day tournament.

“Overall, we were competitive in five of the six games. That wasn’t the case last year so it has been a brilliant exercise for the whole of the sevens department,” he said.

“The girls were excellent yesterday, the boys were excellent the day before, so as far as we’re concerned it’s been worthwhile. We’re just a little bit disappointed in how we finished today because our standards have gone up and we should have won that last game.”

Police reigned supreme in the cup final, completely dismantling last year’s champions First Light Taveuni 34-7 in front of a baying crowd at Lawaqa Park.