'Neither Japan nor Korea were overly physical. It was just that they had the speed to punish us at will. They play the game at a pace we cannot match,' said Hong Kong captain Brett Forsyth yesterday.

Two matches, two losses. As expected, Hong Kong are now relegated to division two where they are likely to meet the Arabian Gulf and Taiwan in the next stage of qualifying. The SAR will have to win this group to regain their place in the top tier for the final round of qualifying.

Head coach Ivan Torpey, who yesterday must have pulled his thinking cap over his eyes to cover the carnage on the field, will have to think of new ways to stop the tide against Asia's best two teams.

Worryingly for Torpey is the fact that Hong Kong's attack is toothless and virtually non-existent. After 160 minutes of rugby, Hong Kong have failed to cross the line of their opponents with only two penalties to show for their efforts.

Yesterday, Rob Naylor knocked over an early penalty to get the home team on the scoreboard. But apart from that success, Hong Kong were never in with a chance until late in the match when flyhalf Liu Kwok-leung with his trademark sidestep created a chance for a try. But fullback Paul Morehu did not have the legs to beat the defence.

In contrast, the Koreans had the speed to be a threat from all parts of the field. A couple of their tries began from near their own goal-line. The backs were a threat constantly. Wingers Kim Sung-Soo and Kim Jeong-Min both collected a brace of tries.

'We were beaten by pure leg speed. I wouldn't say they were better than us as far as patterns of play were concerned. It was just that we struggled to match their game and their speed,' said Forsyth.

'When they turned over ball, they were on the front foot immediately due to the speed at which they ran the ball. We just didn't react fast enough every time there was a turnover,' added Forsyth.

But despite the scoreline and the ease with which victory was accomplished, South Korean head coach Min Joon-Ki was still left unsatisfied. He had wanted his young side to overpower Hong Kong in the forwards and rub their noses into the ground.

'I'm not really happy. In our domestic league there are no foreigners and we use games like this as an opportunity to develop a pattern against bigger opponents. I was not too happy at our play. Hong Kong disrupted it a lot,' said Min.

South Korea, whose avowed aim is to one day supplant arch-rivals Japan as Asia's premier team - to do that, they feel they have to win the sole berth given to Asia for the World Cup - know to match Japan, they will have to improve their forward play.

'We lack power up front. We need to improve our forward play. We have to do better at the rucks and mauls. We did not do all that well in this department against Hong Kong,' said Min.

He is a hard taskmaster. Eight tries and a 56-3 defeat would have left most coaches happy but not Min the merciless, who wanted more yesterday.

Min's dissatisfaction is a huge indictment of Hong Kong whose aim is to be in the top three in Asia. Japan and South Korea showed what a huge gulf lies between the top two and the third-placed team. It is a gulf built on sheer pace. While they play the game at a 100 miles per hour, Hong Kong are merely chugging along.

Flanker Ut Vuthy struck a proud blow for Cambodia when he scored his country's first try in their debut international against Macau yesterday. But it was not enough to ward off defeat.

Vuthy picking up from a breakdown, covered 40 metres to score his side's only try in a 46-7 loss to Macau in the curtain-raiser at Sports Road.

Frenchman Francois Bleriot, one of four expatriates in the team, converted the try.

Macau took time to get into their stride, and led 17-7 at half-time through tries from Jose Reis, Miguel Madaleno and Lee Po-lam. But after the break, they turned on the style against the flagging Cambodians and ran in five more tries.

The Cambodians tackled their hearts out but could not stop Sean Bonar, who grabbed a brace, Jason Collelo, Ricky Pina and Anacleto Cabaca from crossing their line.