Youngsters Rowan Varty and debutant Keith Robinson both made immediate impacts as second-half replacements to help Hong Kong score a comfortable 33-7 victory over Malaysia on the opening day at the Sri Lankan Sevens in Kandy yesterday.
A massive police presence at the Nittawela grounds did not faze the visiting sides from turning up the pace - and Hong Kong obliged, too, as they ran in five tries with winger Varty getting a double. Robinson, playing at flyhalf, also touched down while the other tries were scored by Jeff Wong and Ricky Cheuk Ming-yin.
'Both Rowan and Keith came on in the second half with us leading 12-7. We then upped the tempo and in the end won quite easily,' said Hong Kong rugby's head of performance Ivan Torpey. 'The guys were a bit nervous earlier on, but the fluency came back.'
The win saw Hong Kong book their berth in the Cup competition despite losing 35-7 to South Korea in their second group game. The top two teams from each of the four groups advance into the Cup quarter-finals today.
'We failed to take our chances against the Koreans,' said Torpey. Hong Kong trailed 14-7 at half-time with forward Ryan McBride scoring a try. But the Koreans turned on the heat in the second half to run out winners comfortably.
Hong Kong only decided at the last minute to take part in the two-day tournament. The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union was worried about the security situation in Sri Lanka with fighting between government forces and the rebels.