World Cup champion knows Wright from wrong

Former All Blacks World Cup winner Terry Wright knows a thing or two about finance, and though he pines for the days when rugby was strictly amateur, he insists the boost Hong Kong's sevens team will receive when they join the Sports Institute next month can only be a good thing.

Wright moved to Hong Kong two years ago, and although long since retired from competitive rugby he still has his finger on the pulse.

"My international career finished a couple of years before professionalism started, but in my heart I still cling to the belief that sport should be played by amateurs," said Wright. "Having said that, the additional funding will allow the Hong Kong players to be fully paid professionals, which in turn will allow them to reach a higher performance standard.

"This will also give other players more motivation to aspire to the team, if they feel there is a career there. And it also allows the HKRFU to free up funding to other parts of the sevens game or to other areas of rugby.

"Hong Kong have in the past had the occasional moment where they've knocked over a mid-tier team, but they do struggle with size, and the size of their players is probably proportionate to the pool of players they're drawing from.

"It's much harder for them to compete in a scrum or a lineout against the major nations because they haven't got the same physical size. In sevens they can pick quick guys who've got good ball sense and can be competitive without having the absolute physicality of some of the other teams, but size does matter."