Nigel D'Acre will take over the reins of captaincy from Alex Gibbs as Hong Kong continue to chart a course towards the Doha Asian Games in December by taking part in this weekend's Singapore Sevens.
Gibbs will be missing in action because he will be getting married in Australia. His place in the squad will be filled by youngster Rowan Varty, who was unfortunate to miss out on the Hong Kong Sevens last week.
'We knew that Alex would be getting married this weekend and that we would miss him. He is the only change to the side that played last week,' Hong Kong sevens coach Rodney McIntosh said yesterday.
With the Singapore Sevens being a 16-team event as opposed to the 24-team format in Hong Kong, D'Acre and his team can expect to be up against it right from the outset. There will be no room to hide, not that Hong Kong are looking for this option as they want the hottest fire to test the mettle of this young squad in the run-up to the Asian Games.
Hong Kong are grouped in pool C alongside Argentina, South Africa and Scotland - all of whom made it to the cup competition last Sunday. While beating any of them will be asking too much, these games will offer another chance for the SAR to test their defensive system which will be crucial towards any medal success in Doha.
'It will be tough from the word go. But our goal has always been to expose these guys at this level to a high level of rugby. Singapore will give us one more chance to give some serious game time to the youngsters,' said McIntosh. The Hong Kong squad leave tonight.