Hong Kong out to prove a point against Japan

Day one was always going to be tough going for Hong Kong at the Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women's Rugby Sevens at So Kon Po, and so it proved yesterday.

In the 10th anniversary of the women's sevens, the SAR side were drawn in the same pool as defending champions New Zealand's Aotearoa Maori and Canada.

As predicted it was defence, defence and more defence against their more talented and skillful opponents, as the battling women's side went down 61-0 to the New Zealanders in their first game and 38-0 to the talented Canadians.

Today though, the competition starts in earnest for Hong Kong when they take on Japan in nine to 12th place play-offs. The final will be played tonight at Hong Kong Stadium.

'We always knew we were going to be on a hiding to nothing against New Zealand and Canada but the girls gave it their all and we couldn't have asked for more,' manager Ruth Mitchell said.

'But this is the big game for us in the tournament. Japan will be one of our big rivals in the Asian Championships in Doha next month and we will be looking to put in a really strong performance against them.'