Rees renews focus on 15-a-side game with a mission to Europe
Hong Kong will embark on a three-game tour of Europe next month.
Head coach Dai Rees will renew his focus on the 15-a-side game, which has taken a backseat to the campaign to win a gold medal in sevens at the Asian Games in Guangzhou this month. The team will play internationals against Germany, Norway and Holland.
It follows last year's groundbreaking visit - the only difference being Norway replaces the Czech Republic - which ended in defeat in all three tests.
'I will be really disappointed if we return this time without a couple of wins under our belt. The players need to leave their comfort zone. Last year was a steep learning curve, but I expect to do much better this time,' Rees said.
Hong Kong will play Germany in Heidelberg on December 11, then travel mid-week to Stavanger to take on Norway on December 15.
The tour will finish in Amsterdam on December 18 against Holland.
A 30-strong training squad has been picked and will include players from the Asian Games sevens squad.
But Japan-based duo Rowan Varty and Mark Wright will be unavailable because of their commitments to their club Toyota Shokki Shuttles.
'We have to continue to develop our 15s game and the best way to do this is to go outside Asia and play against other tier three nations like us. It was cold and miserable last year. And that won't be an excuse this time around,' Rees said.
Germany will be the highest-ranked opponent at 30, followed by Holland (36) and Norway (82). Hong Kong are ranked 34.
The tour will form part of the build-up to next year's HSBC Asian Five Nations in which Hong Kong will take on Japan, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka.
