Hong Kong claimed its second straight silver medal in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series after losing 28-19 to Japan in the final in South Korea tonight. The women’s seven finished just outside of the running for a second straight time as well, taking fourth after losing to China 29-10.

After a strenuous day one where they outlasted stiff challenges from South Korea and Sri Lanka, Hong Kong breezed through to the final on day two, with 73-0 and 47-0 hammerings of Chinese Taipei in the pool stages and China in the cup semi final.

All the momentum of posting 120 points without conceding a try dissipated in another tight cup final against Japan, who beat Hong Kong in the series opener finale, 12-0.  

A furious start for Japan saw the Brave Blossoms stretch Hong Kong’s defence all over the park. A strategic penalty from flanker Toby Fenn prevented Japan from capitalizing on on its first attack, but they made good from the resulting scrum, with Naoki Motomura cutting inside of Jack Neville to touch down for a 7-0 lead after Katsayuki Sakai’s conversion.

Hong Kong marched back efficiently, maintaining control of possession for the next two minutes as they worked their way deep into Japanese territory. Max Woodward finished a pop pass from Jamie Hood well, brushing off a Japanese arm tackle for the try to level the scores at 7-all after Hood’s conversion.

But Japan closed out the half with a too easy try at this level after Hong Kong failed to bring down the ball carrier in the one on one tackle. The need for help on defence created a gap out wide that was exploited by Kameli Soeijima who crashed over at the buzzer to push Japan ahead 14-7 at half-time.

It was more of the same in the second half, as Hong Kong lost the opportunity to establish momentum when Hood was yellow carded for an intentional knock-on early on. Japan turned their advantage into points as they stretched the lead to 28-7 after second tries for Soeijima and Motomura.

Hong Kong clawed back some respect late with a try to Hood to close the gap to 14 points after his conversion. On the next attack, Hood spotted Kane Boucaut in space at the corner flag and put a perfectly weighted kick pass across the park which Boucaut nabbed well for the try, closing the gap to 28-19, but the clock conspired against Hong Kong as Japan ran out winners, four tries to three.

“The boys have been really positive this weekend,” said coach Paul John.

“They played really well all the way to the final. There was nothing in it again in that final really, a few momentum changes at the end of the first half and then the yellow card to start the second half were the big swings.

“We have to manage those situations a bit better, but these finals are very close now, there are some very fine margins and there is really nothing between the two sides, so those little errors or mistakes are magnified at this level.

“The boys reached a third final on the trot. It’s not easy, you know, to win them all and this Japan team is very strong, probably stronger than at the Asian Games. Looking back at the final, it just came down to a couple of turnovers and them taking their opportunities.  A four try to three loss shows how close it is.”

Hong Kong will have to back up once again for the series decider in Colombo, Sri Lanka two weeks from now with their goal of taking the Series title more difficult now.

“Our aim has always been to win the series and that may be a bit far away from us now, but we’ll see. I’m not sure what kind of team Japan will send to Sri Lanka, but for us we will have to see how fit everyone is and see how they all come out tomorrow.”

“We played really well in the final, it is just managing those little situations now that we need to improve on,” added John.

The women gave it their all in what was always going to be a hugely challenging run to the cup, travelling through all three of the Asian Games medalists in champions Japan in the pool, and bronze and silver holders, Kazakhstan and China, in today’s knock-out competition.

Even little fancied hosts South Korea put up a stiff challenge in the morning’s final pool match with Chong Ka-yan’s natural hat trick in the first half proving the difference in a 15-10 win as Hong Kong held the Koreans off for most of the second half.

That result sent Hong Kong through to the cup semi with Kazakhstan, who finished top of their pool after toppling China in yesterday’s action. Hong Kong coach Kevin West wasn’t surprised with that result, saying, “Kazakhstan have rejuvenated their squad a bit and they are all very big and athletic girls, which will be a challenge for us.”

That proved the case as the Asian Games bronze medalists used their size and power to outmuscle Hong Kong, posting 26 straight points before allowing two late replies from Aggie Poon Pak-yan and Sham Wai-sum to bring the final score to 26-14.

Hong Kong then routed to the third-place play-off with another physical opponent in China, seething after missing out on a chance to avenge their two recent losses to Japan in the cup final in Korea. China’s physical advantage was stark from the run-on with Hong Kong conceding a foot on average to China’s starting seven.  

The Chinese would use that advantage with good effect bringing their big runners repeatedly into the line as they crashed the Hong Kong defence.

A miscue from the kick-off saw Hong Kong turn over possession immediately. China took the tap and go penalty at the half-way marker and sent the ball out wide for their first try, scoring unimpeded in the corner.

China punished Hong Kong’s defensive line throughout the match and that pressure told with the series second placed team producing another long try with the conversion building the lead to 12-0 before a third try brought the score to 19-0 at the break.

It was clear that Hong Kong had little left to give defensively after two days of supreme effort and China continued to bring its six-footers into the match and across the try-line as they added a fourth try shortly after the break.

Captain Natasha Olson-Thorne proved once again how indispensable she is with eight solo tackles throughout the match and four carries that generated over 20-metres each, by far accounting for most of Hong Kong’s territory gains.

Aggie Poon was the first on the board for Hong Kong as she finished off another long-range carry from Olson-Thorne in the second half.  Olson-Thorne followed up that effort with a try of her own off a quick tap penalty when she beat the first defender and carried two others across the line over 10 metres.  China scored a late try to close out the match 31-10.