Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong Sevens
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Lomano Lemeki looks to pass during Japan’s 38-7 quarter-final victory against Tunisia. Photo: David Wong/SCMP

Japan power past Tunisia to set up Russia semi-final

Japan’s juggernaut keeps powering on at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, making short work of Tunisia 38-7 in their Sevens World Series qualifier quarter-final.

Japan’s juggernaut keeps powering on at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, making short work of Tunisia 38-7 in their Sevens World Series qualifier quarter-final.

Tunisia were simply no match for the Japanese who tore through the north Africans’ defence almost at will.

In Sunday’s first qualifier semi-final Japan will now face Russia who beat Uruguay 21-14.

Lote Tuqiri was man of the match after grabbing three tries, while Katsuyuki Sakai, Dai Ozawa, Lomano Lemeki and Josefa Lilidamu all touched down once.

For Japan’s Lilidamu a lot has happened in the past 12 months. Last year he played for the BGC Dragons in the GFI HKFC Tens and finished as the tournament’s top scorer.

The Fijian became eligible to play for Japan last year and is back in the city this weekend playing on a much bigger stage – and looking forward to facing the hosts.

“I’ve never played against Hong Kong, but all the boys were saying they are the team to beat. We’ll just stick to our own game plan, play the game at our pace and do what we’ve been practicing in training,” the 24-year-old said. 

“The atmosphere here is definitely very different to any other [major sevens] tournament I’ve played in. I think Japan’s good enough to be on the Sevens World Series. I’ll also be aiming to make the Japan squad that’ll play at the World Cup 15s in England next year,” he added.

Post