Best in Asia: stylish Hong Kong seal sevens series title
Jamie Hood’s heroes run rampant over South Korea to recapture regional crown
Please click on the link for the Hong Kong men’s sevens team results and final Asian Sevens Series standings.
Beijing was smog-ridden but Hong Kong couldn't care less as they breathed in the sweet scent of victory after being crowned Asian sevens champions for the second time on Sunday.
Hong Kong defeated South Korea 36-19 in the Cup final to win the third leg of the ARFU Asian Sevens Series in Beijing to add to earlier victories in Hong Kong and Malaysia. It has been a fantastic performance in the series for Hong Kong, who went through undefeated.
"Number one in Asia, yeah, we are massively happy to tick that box. It has been one of our goals for the last few years, we managed to do it a couple of years ago but it is the first time we managed to win 3-0 in any series," said delighted skipper Jamie Hood.
A brace each from Rowan Varty and Nick Hewson as well as one each from Lee Jones and Hood allowed Hong Kong to coast to a comfortable win after a closely contested first half in which Korea had led 12-10 at one stage.
In the end, Hong Kong's superior composure and all-round strength were too much for the young Korean outfit who had defeated Japan in the semi-finals.
"Korea are not a bad side, and we have faced them before in a final this season," Hood said.
"We were a little bit disappointed we didn't quite finish them off when we wanted to but we showed great maturity to come back and put on a really respectable score, scoring almost 40 points in a final.