After the first leg of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 in Dubai on Sunday 14th January, the men’s sevens team finished 7th overall, while the women claimed 10th.

Both sides had pre-tournament ambitions of reaching the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively but the three-day weekend showed a high level of competition and what will be required to try and finish within the top-four at the Series conclusion, which will offer a chance to qualify for the HSBC SVNS Series 2025.

The men had come out of Friday with two good pool wins, beating PNG 21-7 and Georgia 19-7. Saturday was a much tougher day in sunny but not sweltering hot conditions, with a heavy loss in the pool match at the hands of eventual runners-up Uruguay.

Head Coach Jevon Groves reflected after a solid final match performance and 31-0 win over Georgia to end up 7th on Sunday, “We were not far off that semi-final – these are small margins. Apart from the Uruguay game, I thought we worked extremely hard facing some really tough opposition. I think now, we reflect upon our work and where the effort was not enough against these top teams, we’ve got to match that with our execution.”

It was the second time they had beaten the Georgians over the weekend, and they had pushed Germany all the way on Saturday in their tight 7-19 quarterfinal loss. Max Denmark ended up the top try scorer with 5 tries for the weekend.

Groves added of the weekend, “It was a bit of a reality check in terms of the level of competition we faced but there was lots of good stuff and a level of competition we haven’t been exposed to for some time. I think we need to be a little bit smarter in how we attack and I think we showed that in the last game when we got our game right around our kickoffs, our ability to put the ball into space, give it to our threats, and mix the game up with some kicks.” 

The team heads back to Hong Kong and will also have some players to consider for selection who were rested for Dubai. Groves is confident the team can compete against the likes of Germany, Chile, and Uruguay and if they can beat those teams, they will put themselves in the position where they can be in the top four.

The HKCR women lost two out of three pool games (against Poland and Argentina, with a win over PNG), but only missed out on a quarter-final spot as one of the two best 3rd-placed teams on marginal points difference to Uganda, who themselves ended up 4th overall. Again showing the competition in the HSBC Challenger Series is tight. The women beat Mexico 22-10 on Saturday, showing real heart and grit, as cards picked up placed them under pressure, but they held onto the 9th-place semifinal win. 

The final game on Sunday saw them without Chloe Chan who was injured and the young and talented Julia Mibuy Mba Oyana who had received a red card on Saturday against Poland and was suspended for the final day’s play. In the end, PNG proved too strong, running out 31-0 winners and HKCR ended up tenth.

The HKCR women’s squad had 7 try scorers in Dubai, each grabbing one try over the weekend. An obviously disappointed Women’s Head Coach, Andy Vilk was reflective on the weekend, “You need to really lay those foundations with your basics, and that's just keeping the ball, it's making tackles. And from there, you can build everything else.” 

Vilk was optimistic about the upcoming legs and the lessons learned in Dubai. “We obviously wanted to get to a quarterfinal berth, and have that strong start to set up the Series, but we didn't quite get there. We played some teams who were a level up from what we're used to. But it's a great experience for everyone involved so getting to this level is invaluable.”

He added, “We know we need to keep building on the confidence and the momentum we had from last season and sticking to how we want to play the game. It's about putting it into practice under pressure, and these tournaments bring that pressure. Sometimes it's a really, really tough learning to swallow but we need to make sure we get back to Hong Kong with a common mind, look at these details and then return with a plan.”

Co-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne reflected Vilk's sentiment. “We know what we need to work on, we have focused on what we need to do and we need to believe in ourselves and our strengths. I think we can take that into the next round. It's a great chance to play different teams and styles, and the physicality has been really good, so playing these teams will make us better.”

The Hong Kong China referees maintained their usual high standards, with Sunny Lee performing very well over the tournament, refereeing consistently across all her games (which included being tested on a men's game) to be rewarded with the women's semi final between Kenya and Argentina. She again performed well in this match, and was an Assistant Referee in the final to cap off a solid first WR 7s tournament for her.

Morgan unfortunately picked up a calf injury warming up for his first game in the middle, so was unable to participate fully, but we wish him all the best for his recovery ahead of the next two tournaments. 

Gabriel Lee was involved as a TMO and Performance Reviewer - it’s great to see the progression our experienced referees are able to make in this format. 

The HSBC Challenger Series heads to Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, Uruguay for the second leg from 8-10 March 2024, before standalone women’s and men’s events at Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow, Poland and Dantestadion in Munich, Germany respectively on 18-19 May 2024.

HKCR Women

• HKCR 17-0 Paraguay (Pool)

• HKCR 0-19 Argentina (Pool)

• HKCR 0-33 Poland (Pool)

• HKCR 22-10 Mexico (9th place SF)

• HKCR 0-31 PNG (9th Place Final)

HKCR Men

• HKCR 21-7 PNG (Pool)

• HKCR 19-7 Georgia (Pool)

• HKCR 0-33 Uruguay (Pool)

• HKCR 7-19 Germany (Quarterfinal)

• HKCR 38-0 Georgia (7th Place)

This article was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 - check them out for all the latest Asia Rugby news!