Thrown to the Lions

Rowan Varty spent the long flight from Hong Kong to London on Wednesday reflecting on his career which in a few days will reach its apogee when he turns out in front of his home fans for the Barbarians against the British and Irish Lions.

It is a journey that encapsulates and underlines the very essence of Hong Kong rugby - from the time this city was still struggling to shake off its colonial blues and adapt to its post-handover realities, a time when a conscious decision was taken to nurture homegrown talent.

In the good old days, you turned up and if you were good enough, you soon found yourself drafted into the Hong Kong squad. In fact, any number of squaddies, from Stanley Fort to then Sek Kong (today known as Shek Kong), were called up for "national" duty, some just hours after touching down at Kai Tak.

One famous name was Dan Daly, a soldier who turned up just a couple of days before the 1987 Hong Kong Sevens, was picked and then went on to win the Best-and-Fairest Player award.

In 1987, Varty was just a year old. Born in England, he soon found himself in Hong Kong as a kid kicking a rugby ball on a Sunday at King's Park. His "Once upon a time" starts soon after.

"I got into rugby by going to the Hong Kong Sevens. My parents were, and still are, big fans of the Sevens, and a friend and I wanted to be part of the mini-rugby festival that takes place first thing in the morning. So we signed up," relates Varty.