Japan jinx strikes again as HK fail to keep lead
The Japan jinx reared its head again as Hong Kong were beaten 22-17 by the Asian powerhouse in the Cup quarter-finals at the Shanghai Sevens yesterday.
The latest reversal stretches Hong Kong's losing streak against Japan in the past 12 months to five, and raises concerns of how tough it will be for Hong Kong head coach Dai Rees and his men to break the hoodoo and win the gold medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou in November.
'The curse continues,' Rees (pictured) said. 'Against a team like Japan you have to nail that last one per cent, and today we didn't do that.'
Hong Kong bounced back to win the Plate competition, defeating Guam 52-5 to finish fifth in the opening leg of the Asian Sevens Series at the Shanghai Rugby Football Club.
South Korea claimed the scalp of Japan in the Cup semi-finals 33-12 before going on to defeat hosts China 38-17 to retain the title for a second successive year.
Rees refused to be downhearted by the loss to Japan and was more than pleased with Hong Kong's opening performance in their campaign for Asian Games honours.
'Yes, we have lost to Japan on all five occasions we have played them in the past year. But it's not a case of 'we can't beat them' for all these games were decided by one score. Even today, we should have wrapped up the result our way,' he said.
Hong Kong scampered to a 17-0 lead before Japan, featuring three Pacific islanders who will not be eligible to play at the Asian Games, came storming back. A disallowed try that would have given Hong Kong a 24 points cushion was the turning point of the match.
'We were controlling the game until then but that try was not given and we were called back for a scrum rather harshly,' Rees said. 'Japan scored a length-of-the-field try from that scrum and we went into the break 17-7 in front.'
A missed tackle allowed Japan a soft try soon after resumption and the momentum swung their way. The scores were tied at 17-17 with two minutes to go when Hong Kong made a mistake from a restart resulting in turnover ball for Japan from which they scored to take a lead.
