The Hong Kong Rugby Union’s (HKRU) Men’s and Women’s national U20s sevens sides will be in action again on Friday and Saturday (12-13 August) in the conclusion of the Asia Rugby U20s Sevens Series at King’s Park.

The competition has been plagued by withdrawals after the opening leg in Malaysia. Singapore and Malaysia have dropped out of the women’s competition while China, scheduled to make their season debut in Hong Kong, have also withdrawn. As a result, the Women’s U20s will play a three-match round-robin competition against opening leg champions Thailand.

With Thailand nipping Hong Kong 7-5 in the Cup final in Malaysia the competition is sure to be intense as the two sides battle it out for the Series title on Saturday (13 August).

In the men’s tournament, the Hong Kong leg will feature eight teams, down from 10 in Malaysia, with Japan not participating this weekend and China also having withdrawn its men’s team from the tournament.

After a disappointing opening day in Malaysia, the Men’s U20s bounced back to claim the Plate. Hong Kong enters the Series finale in fifth place in the standings and have been seeded second in Pool B behind South Korea, who finished as the runners-up in Malaysia. The United Arab Emirates and Singapore round out Pool B while opening leg winners Sri Lanka are the top seeds in Pool A ahead of Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand.

With a team primarily drawn from the U20 fifteens programme, the sevens squad struggled to adjust to the unique demands of the code in Malaysia. As a result, U20s sevens coach Fan Shun Kei has made four changes to his squad for the Hong Kong leg, including drafting in three players from the Hong Kong Schools sevens side, winner of the recent Hong Kong School Sports Federation Asian Sevens championship in July.

Mark Coebergh, James Karton and Liam Herbert, (who missed the Asian schools championship through injury but is now fit), have all been drafted in to enhance the sevens readiness of the team. Alessandro Nardoni, another veteran of the U20s fifteens programme has also been selected as Fan looks for an improved performance in the finale.

The new faces will complement the remaining specialist sevens players in the squad including Cameron Smith and Daniel Archer, both of whom are veterans of last year’s Asian title-winning campaign. Hugo Stiles will again captain the team this weekend.

Fan believes the additions will provide some needed physicality to Hong Kong’s challenge while further enhancing sevens familiarity across the squad.

“It is a really good chance for the schoolboy sevens players to make their mark. They are coming off a good sevens training period for the Asian schools championship and this will be a good opportunity for them to show what they can offer the team,” said Fan.

“Alessandro will also bring a bit more physicality to the side. In analysing our matches from Malaysia we recognised that we lost a lot of turnover ball and weren’t as strong as we needed to be in the contact area. Since then we have been working hard on the physical aspects and retaining possession,” said Fan.

Fan has been pleased with the squad’s reaction after the opening round saying, “The guys were hugely disappointed after Malaysia, mostly at the high number of unforced errors they made. Since we have come back, training has been very physical and very intense and the players have responded well. The team is very focused on making up for our errors in the first tournament and playing well at home in front of our fans.”

Fan’s expectation is to reach the semi-finals and finish as one of the top two teams in the pool, which will position the squad for a Cup run. While conceding that the results in the first tournament have effectively spelled the end of Hong Kong’s two-year run as Asian U20s sevens champions Fan is now focusing on the development opportunities presented by the Series.

“We have had a really strong team at U20s level for the last two or three years. That side was very settled and probably didn’t provide enough opportunities for the next group coming through in terms of game experience, so this Series is hugely important for us to continue our development and to enhance our understanding of the players as we work to progress them to senior levels,” Fan added.

To achieve their objective of defending their two consecutive Hong Kong tournament titles the U20s will have to survive a tough pool headed by South Korea.

“South Korea is our primary opposition in the pool stages. We lost to them in Malaysia but have done a lot of analysis on them since that opening loss. I believe they will bring a similar squad to Hong Kong so we feel we have the tools to beat them now, but of course it will all come down to the boys’ performance on the pitch.”

Hong Kong Women’s U20 Sevens to face Thailand in round-robin play

The Women’s U20 will be facing a stiff challenge on Saturday, despite the dramatically scaled back competition, with three matches against Series leaders Thailand.

“The girls are really disappointed at the team withdrawals but are also really excited that Thailand is participating. After Malaysia, they are obviously the favourites in the Series and after just losing to them in the Cup final they are the team we really want to beat,” Feausi said.

Hong Kong lost both of their matches against Thailand in Malaysia, falling to a 24-12 defeat in the pool round before closing the gap considerably in the cup final – a 7-5 loss. Thailand’s opening leg victory has them in command of the Series title. Hong Kong need to beat Thailand in all three games to secure their first-ever Asia Rugby U20s sevens title.

“They are definitely going to be three very challenging games and the winner-take-all format makes it even more exciting. The girls are a bit nervous but very excited to have the chance to win at home in front of our strong support,” added Feausi.

“Our training has been good since returning from Malaysia. We have focused a lot of our efforts on Thailand in terms of analysing their style of play and how best to counter their strengths. If the girls play with confidence and improve their accuracy then we can beat Thailand and I think that final in Malaysia demonstrated that,” Feausi added.

Feausi has kept faith in her squad from Johor Bahru with 11 of the team from the opening leg selected for Hong Kong. The only absence is Jade Birkby, one of the side’s overseas-based players who has had to return to Durham University and is unavailable this weekend. Birkby is replaced by up-and-comer Shona Miran.

“There were four or five girls that we looked at in terms of a replacement for Jade and the competition was quite strong but at the end of the day we are confident in Shona and she now has a great opportunity to establish herself in the squad,” said Feausi.

“Shona brings a bit of dog – a bit of aggression – to the side, she has a great work rate and a great attitude which is what we are looking for as coaches. If we can just improve our accuracy and get our confidence going on the day then I think we are in a good position to sweep Thailand, although that is very hard to do in sevens,” Feausi concluded.

HKRU Men’s U20 Sevens (Asia Rugby U20s Sevens – Hong Kong):

Hugo STILES (captain), Alessandro NARDONI, James KARTON, Liam HERBERT, Mark COEBERGH, Cameron SMITH, Pierce MACKINLAY-WEST, TANG Cheuk-hang, CHEN Po-yuan, Oliver DUFFY, Daniel ARCHER, MAK Kwai-chung.

Match Schedule:

Friday 12 August

14.06 Hong Kong v Singapore

16:14 Hong Kong v UAE

18:00 Hong Kong v South Korea

Following the pool rounds, the teams will automatically enter the Cup and Plate semi-finals with the action kicking off at 13.00 at King’s Park on Saturday.

HKRU Women’s U20 Sevens (Asia Rugby U20 Sevens – Hong Kong):

LEE Tsz-ting (captain), CHAN Tsz-ching (vice captain), TAM Yu-ching, Roshini TURNER, Grace HOOD, Hannah TURLEY, Wong Suet-ying, Chloe CHAN, Cathay CHAN Tsz-ying, AU King-to, Shona MIHAN, Rosanna WRIGHT.

Match Schedule:

Saturday 13 August

13:00 Hong Kong v Thailand

14:50 Hong Kong v Thailand

16:36 Hong Kong v Thailand