2 minutes with...
LACHLIN MILLER
The Asahi Valley and Hong Kong rugby union second rower tells the Post how he and his national teammates felt after winning the Hong Kong Sports Stars Award for Team Only Sport for the first time last Monday. The 31-year-old will be an interested observer at the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament next weekend, in which Hong Kong will play against strong teams like Fiji and Australia in pool C.
How do you feel about getting the Team Only award?
We are very surprised about winning in the category. But we do think that the award is the recognition for the effort that the players, coaches and staff members made throughout the years. We are also extremely happy - we immediately phoned the others who could not make it to the awards ceremony and told them the news.
Do you think the award will boost the morale of the Hong Kong team in the World Cup tournament?
It surely will. The team have been putting in a lot of effort for the World Cup Sevens. But the team have a hard pool to start with, playing strong teams like Canada and Australia. I would say we will take every game seriously and hopefully get a couple of wins and take it from there.
Why do you think the Rugby Football Union was endorsed by the Hong Kong public this year?
Well, as I have said before, we didn't really expect it and feel very happy about it. I guess we were chosen because we have been training extremely hard. Only six of us were able to attend the awards ceremony. The others were still training and practising at King's Park for the sevens. Also, we did very well in last October's Asian Championships for 15s. We came third in the tournament.
What are the main goals for the union this year?
Our next major competition will be the World Cup 15s' qualifying rounds in May. We will play Japan in Tokyo and Korea here in Hong Kong. We hope we can upset one of those teams.
