New boys taught a harsh lesson
DeA's mainland Chinese players turned up for the first time last week, but failed to prevent the enterprising club tumbling to defeat in the Hong Kong Fourth Division.
Every week, DeA will field six to eight players from the Guangzhou Agricultural College in their third string. Their first outing on Saturday ended in defeat, 52-19 at the hands of leaders Club VII .
'We have a pool of 20 mainland players who will be available for our third team, in the Fourth Division. We will bring in players depending on whom we need,' said DeA coach Gary Cross.
DeA are the first Hong Kong club to host players from across the border. According to Cross, the club still faces the problem of getting multiple visas for them.
'We are not guaranteed to get the same players every week, because they have not got multiple visas, just day visas,' said Cross.
Re-appointed national coach George Simpkin had his first look at the territory's newcomers under match conditions at last night's trials, where they came up against the Hong Kong team from November's Asian Rugby Football Tournament. First impressions suggested it would be hard for any newcomer to press a claim for inclusion in the forwards.
Flanker Paul Dingley was the only new face in the pack which started for the Hong Kong team. He is certain to find himself playing full-time in the jersey soon, as is Will Wild, the Club and Hong Kong flanker who missed the Asian tournament last year. With the retirement of prop Dave Lewis there will be competition for the front row, and likely contenders are Aberdeen's Wally Rea and Kowloon's Niall McCarthy.
