The long awaited World Cup repechage match between Hong Kong and Uruguay in Charrua Stadium, Montevideo last Saturday Aug 2 ended in disappointment for the Hong Kong team.
Hong Kong just 3-points down (6-3) at half-time and well in the game received two crucial yellow cards first on 51 minutes to Leon Wei for collapsing the scrum and then to Captain Nick Hewson for a professional foul on 67 minutes, played an important part in the final result
Uruguay started the second half with a 50 yard penalty to push them to 9-3 and continued to notch up penalties (including converting the two yellow-card infringement kicks) taking them to 18-3, but Hong Kong playing with 14 men for 20 minutes of the second half was the real killer.
Hong Kong competitive for most of the match wilted under Uruguay pressure towards the end of the match resulting in two Uruguay tries to push them to a 28-3 win.
Team manager Dai Rees explained his feelings after the match: “It is a very disappointing result, more so in the way we lost, as it came down to penalties in what was a very evenly matched encounter.
“There wasn’t much between the two sides. It ultimately came down to the penalties and of course the two cards. It was 6-3 at halftime and we were in it. They did well at the scrum and that was probably at the end of the day what won them the game,” said Rees.
In the other repechage pre-qualifier Russia beat Zimbabwe 23-15 to move forward to play Uruguay for the final place in Group-A to join Australia, England, Wales and Fiji.
The Playoff Final will be over two matches will take place first in Krasnoyark and then in Montevideo two weeks later, with the team victorious on aggregate to compete in the Rugby World Cup 2015.
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