Hong Kong's Men’s Under-20 team stamped their name on the silverware with a resounding 36-0 win over Sri Lanka in the final ofthe Asia Rugby U20 Sevens tournament at King’s Park today.

The Men’s team, who topped their pool with four solid wins, including over holders South Korea, had earlier convincingly neutralised Chinese Taipei in the semi-final, 41-5.

The Sri Lankans had been strong all through the tournament, with nimble feet and clever offloads and touches but were unable to answer the organisation and determination of the home side.

Men’s coach Fan Shun Kei put his young team’s success down to the cohesion of the group, despite nearly half of them being still only 18.

“They played naturally as a team,” he said. “They had confidence in themselves, and in the unit.”

He also cited the value of having six of the squad in year-round programmedtraining – three full-time at Hong Kong Sports Institute and three on the HKRU Podium Programme, a part-time programme that targets success at the Asian Games and Olympics through ongoing skills development.

Loath to single out any one player in the triumph, he nevertheless believes that Fong Kit Fung has the potential to make a significant contribution to Hong Kong’s national side.

The Women’s title went to China, with a string of consistently high-scoring victories in the seven-team round-robin tournament. Their standout player was speedy wingerXiaohui Huang.

China team coach Jiale Ma revealed that her team had watched videos of Hong Kong's play, but assigned the success to “minimal mistakes, good communication and holding on to possession”.

Hong Kong fans had entertained hope for their Women’s side after strong, well-organised play on Day 1 saw them rack up a total of 116 points for no loss in their three games. But after starting Day 2 with another dominant performance, 55-0 against Uzbekistan, first China and thenThailand dealt a couple of harsh lessons, overpowering the local girls 41-0 and 36-12 respectively. That left Hong Kong in third place at the end of the day, onedown on the previous two editions of this competition.

Women’sHead Coach Mark Komar was pleased with the overall performance, saying, “the team played well. It was a useful learning experience, with a lot that we can take away.”

He put the two reverses down in part to a lapse in the confidence that had been so evident on Day 1.

“Losing Rosie [Rosanna Wright, of Northumbria University]early in the China game unsettled the girls and that carried over into the next game.Then losing SomboSisay to the red [midway through the Thailand game], and having to play with only six on the pitch also disrupted confidence.”

Final Pool Results

Men’s Tournament

Pool A – final rankings

Pool B – final rankings

Men’s U20

Final Tournament Ranking:

• Hong Kong
• Sri Lanka
• Chinese Taipei
• South Korea
• Singapore
• Malaysia
• China
• Thailand
• Philippines
• Uzbekistan

Women’s Tournament – final rankings