The Olympic dream ended for Hong Kong in Monaco over the weekend, losing their quarter-final against Samoa, 31-12. Hong Kong won their Group, but then faced a tough match against Samoa, who proved too strong on the day. Spain won the competition, beating Samoa in the final, with a last minute try, 22-19, to secure the twelfth and final slot at Rio this summer.
Hong Kong acquitted themselves well. They won their Group on Day 1 (Saturday June 18) posting impressive victories over Mexico 26-10, South Korea 19-7 and Spain 19-0.
Victory over Spain may have proved pyrrhic. By winning Group D, Hong Kong played the runners-up of Group A, which surprisingly was Samoa. Spain, as runners-up of Group D played Ireland, the Group A winners, who had pulled-off a shock defeat of tournament favourites Samoa in their group match.
Samoa was too strong for Hong Kong. Salom Yiu Kam-shing opened the scoring for Hong Kong with a try, to give Hong Kong an early lead 5-0, but Samoa responded with three unanswered tries by Samoa Toloa before halftime and led at the turnaround 19-5. They scored twice more, before Yiu scored Hong Kong’s second try and the match ended 31-12 to Samoa. Having lost to Ireland yesterday, Samoa was clearly in no mood to lose again, and proved more physical in contesting the ball than Hong Kong, and sharper with the ball in hand. Samoa had an edge to their game that proved difficult for Hong Kong to counter, and was reflected in a comfortable victory 31-12.
In the other quarterfinals Spain beat Ireland 12-7; Russia edged Canada 14-12; and Germany dominated Chile 26-0.
In the semifinals, Spain narrowly beat Russia 17-12, with a last minute try, and Samoa continued their winning ways, comfortably beating Germany 26-14.
The final saw Spain beat Samoa 22-19: and Hong Kong the only team to have beaten Spain over the weekend! Small consolation.
Hong Kong, having lost to Samoa, then beat Chile 24-5, before losing to Canada for the 5th place final 24-12: again losing out to the a more physical side, but coming 6th in the tournament, with the knowledge they can compete with teams that regularly grace the main HSBC Sevens circuit. It was a good performance by Hong Kong over the weekend. They have the skills to play with topflight Sevens teams (and it would be good to see more tournaments like Monaco), but lack size and physicality which places them at a disadvantage in winning uncontested ball.
Whilst the form book had Samoa, Canada and Russia as favourites for the weekend, it was Spain, who came through as eventually winners, playing tenacious rugby winning all their games on Day 2 by a score or less. Spain packs their bags for Rio; everyone else goes home to plan to Tokyo 2020.
Women’s repechage
This weekend the Women’s Repechage tournament takes place in Dublin, and Hong Kong Women’s Seven will be hoping their dream continues. In their pool they face familiar opponents Kazakhstan; Argentina, who they played recently in Hong Kong, and the Cook Islands, an unknown quantity. Not an easy Group. But one that Hong Kong, with the right preparation and bounce of the ball, is capable of getting through to the quarterfinals and perhaps taking that extra step, which eluded the men.
The Pools for the competition are: Pool-A, Russia, Samoa, Zimbabwe, Madagascar; Pool-B, Spain, Mexico, Venezuela. Tunisia; Pool-C, Ireland, China, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago; Pool-D, Hong Kong, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Cook Islands.
Grahame Carder is a sports enthusiast, former player and now resident in Hong Kong
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