South Koreans vow to come back stronger for East Asian Games
South Korea coach Kang In-jung believes his side will return to Hong Kong for the East Asian Games in December all the stronger after bowing out of the Plate quarter-finals to France 17-7.
Missing five of their regulars through injury, the South Koreans have participated in every Hong Kong Sevens since its inception in 1976, although this time around it was largely a tournament to forget for Kang's charges.
'I'm a bit disappointed we didn't do as well as we are capable of. But having said that, we didn't come here with our strongest line-up and it was always going to be a struggle,' said Kang, whose side's sole win was a 35-10 victory against Uruguay on Saturday. 'The East Asian Games is our big target for this year and we aiming for the gold medal. Hopefully, by that time, we will be at full strength,' he said.
South Korea didn't get the bounce of the ball against the French, who also beat them in their pool match, 24-5.
Park Noh-hoon also dropped the ball as he crossed the line midway through the second half. That pretty much summed up their day, although Park scored a face-saving try when it was all over.
'Some of the players didn't perform as well as I had expected,' Kang said. 'We have to put this all behind us and look ahead to December when we will be out to win the gold at the East Asian Games. Japan will be our biggest rivals, but I think a full-strength Korean side will be good enough to beat them. We'll be back here in December and things will be different.'
