The playing conditions were sauna-like but Hong Kong rose to the occasion by blowing away Sri Lanka 48-3 in their HSBC Asian Five Nations Top Five encounter yesterday.
The decision to bring the game forward by one hour and start at the height of the afternoon sun backfired badly on Sri Lanka, who had no answer to Hong Kong's superb phase play, with both forwards and backs combining sweetly to run in seven unanswered tries.
The bulk of it went to the backs - flyhalf Keith Robertson and inside centre Lee Jones each grabbing a brace with left-winger Rowan Varty and substitute scrumhalf Tim Alexander also touching down - but perhaps the most deserving try of all went to loose forward Pale Tauti.
The Hong Kong No 8 had an outstanding game as he tirelessly dominated the field in both attack and defence to come up with a domineering performance which brought him the man-of-the-match accolade.
'I have never played in conditions like this before. It was unbelievably hot out there but the boys sucked it in,' said Tauti. 'Everyone did their own bit of the jigsaw and it all came together for us today.'
Fittingly, Tauti's try came right at the end with Sri Lanka gasping on the ropes. From a five-metre scrum, he kept the ball at his feet as the pack drove forward yet again before picking up and falling over the line.
It was a classic No 8's try, and Tauti was in his element. His cover defence was from the top drawer but it was his surging runs that had the opposition in all sorts of trouble.