Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s sevens teams concluded successful Asia Rugby Sevens Series campaigns by reaching their respective cup finals in Sri Lanka.  The women reached their first cup final since 2015, losing to Japan, 31-0, while the men reached their third straight final, losing for a third time to Japan, 19-5.

Coach Paul John brought a new-look squad to the final tournament of the season, including a first cap in James Christie and two players on season debut in Eric Kwok Pak-nga, (his first appearance since the Asian Games), and Tomasi Lawa in his first appearance in over a year. Ultimately none of it mattered.  

Hong Kong proved seamless in Sri Lanka, showing an encouraging plug-and-play capability with the new arrivals logging significant minutes in an efficient march to the final.  Hong Kong scored over 100 points on day one and followed that with a clinical 21-12 win over Sri Lanka in this morning’s final pool match.

That set up a cup semi final clash with an emerging Philippines Volcanoes squad. Hong Kong eventually extinguished that threat, coming from 12-5 down in the second half to run out 19-12 winners.

Reaching the semi final was enough to secure second place and Hong Kong’s spot in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series qualifier played at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.  Second place also earns Hong Kong an automatic invite to the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens.  The Philippines beat Sri Lanka to end up third overall and take Asia’s second spot in the Series qualifier in Hong Kong.

With the main objectives already safely secured, John doubled down on the youth movement in the final, running out a starting seven featuring four players that have broken through in the past season in Max Denmark, new cap Christie, Liam Herbert and Alessandro Nardoni.

The next generation did well beneath the lights in facing up to World Series bound Japan, limiting them to a 7-0 lead before wing Max Denmark notched his 13th try of the series to pull Hong Kong back 7-5.  The game was evenly contested for the remainder of the half until Kameli Soeijima broke away for a try at the death to put Japan ahead 14-5.  

John continued his stress test in the second half, removing Denmark and veteran forward Kane Boucaut to bring Lawa and Eric Kwok on.  

Winded after nearly ten minutes of continuous pressure, Hong Kong were loose at times, missing the leadership of players like the injured Jamie Hood and captain Ben Rimene back in Hong Kong, but did well across the final stages to shore up matters and blunt most of Japan’s frenzied attacks, losing 19-5.

Hong Kong’s women’s sevens squad have been targeting a top three finish all season and they hit their mark in Colombo after a massive 17-7 win over China in the semi final.

Hong Kong were dominant in the first half, retaining possession of the ball for nearly the entire period, most of which they spent attacking the China try-line.  The inexorable pressure sapped the Chinese defence, but they limited the damage to just five points at half time after Chong Ka-yan scored at the hooter.  

An early miscue on the restart gave China its first possession of the game to start the second half - and in good attacking position. They quickly capitalized to score beneath the posts and take a 7-5 lead.

So close to their target, Hong Kong refused to quit.  Composed on attack, Colleen Tjosvold spotted a gap in China’s defence out wide and served up a beautifully weighted cutout pass to Aggie Poon Pak-yan on the outside.  Poon took the ball at pace and flashed over the last 50 metres, using her power to elude a desperate arm tackle, to reclaim the lead for Hong Kong at 12-7.

Chong Ka-yan shut the door with a textbook finish of another Hong Kong attack with time running out, turning the corner with a great burst of speed to put Hong Kong in the clear, 17-7 and sending them into the final against Japan, who have been playing at another level this season.

Japan proved a step too far for Hong Kong in its first cup final since winning the Qingdao Sevens in 2015 as Hong Kong lost 31-0.

Japan struck early and hard, jumping out to a 12-0 lead after two tries in the first three minutes.  Hong Kong responded well, holding possession for the final three minutes of the half, consistently recycling ball in attack, but were ultimately unable to penetrate the Japanese defence.

It was a strong positive for Hong Kong to maintain control for such a significant period of play, but it was physically taxing and the result of that effort started to show in the second half.

Japan scored after just 27 seconds to pull ahead, 19-0, and would have added to their lead minute later were it not for an acrobatic try-saving tackle from Colleen Tjosovld.  

But the Japanese attacks continued without ceasing and Hong Kong eventually allowed two more scores in a 31-0 defeat.

“It’s tough,” said Hong Kong coach Kevin West after the final.

“We’ve now played them a number of times on this series, and all bar one game, we have been in it at half time. We just need to get over that hurdle, and have the same degree of confidence we had in the China game, when we are playing Japan.

“At the moment we are playing the jersey, rather then the opposition, against them, but there are some really big learnings for us to take from this series and from this tournament. This is going to help us to get closer.

“Overall, we are very pleased. Our mission throughout the series was to win the play-off games, so to win a semi final and be in the final here is a good end to what has been a pretty good series for us,” West added.