Pressure on new-look front row to deliver against South Korea
Challenging task for Hong Kong coach Andy Hall heading into Asia Rugby Championship opener
The heat will be on Hong Kong's forwards, especially a relatively inexperienced front row, to deliver in their opening encounter of the Asia Rugby Championship against South Korea at Hong Kong Football Club on Saturday.
Head coach Andy Hall has identified their opponents' front row as one of the main dangers in the revamped competition, which, although shrunk from five to three sides - perennial winners Japan being the other team - offers a challenging task due to its home-and-away format.
"They have a big and physical front row. I know front-rowers are big by definition, but the Koreans are big for front-rowers and these guys are paramount to Korea's attacking shape as well," Hall said. "They really look to get them involved, so we are going to need to snuff that out.
"Across the team they are quick and powerful. They have a good combination at nine and 10 with the fly-half an exceptional goal-kicker, which means we need to be extremely disciplined, particularly in loose play. Any penalties we concede pretty much up to 50 metres away are very likely to be three points for them."
Hall has chosen to start with John Aikman (loose-head prop), Lachlan Chubb (hooker) and James Cooper (tight-head) in the front row. Although admitting that this selection might come as a bit of a surprise to some, he has based it on current form shown at training.
"Yes, the guys are a bit new and it will be a real test for them. The question is can they establish a platform for us? Both [Aikman and Chubb] have high work-rates around the park, almost comparable to back-row players, and that was another element they brought to the selection table."
"Alex [Harris] and Leon [Wei] are both pretty upset about starting off the bench, so that adds motivation. We now have legitimately six or seven front-rowers pushing for starting spots, which is something we haven't had in Hong Kong for a long while. We will need all of them in this home-and-away competition."