Hong Kong cruise past Germany on back of Brien hat-trick, but defensive display leaves head coach full of pride
- Wing Sebastian Brien scores three of his side’s seven tries in 46-10 win at Aberdeen Sports Ground
- Head coach Andrew Douglas hails team’s ‘character and determination’ after seeing off intense period of German pressure in second half
Sebastian Brien ran in a hat-trick, Murray Brechin scored two more on his debut, and Hong Kong cruised past Germany 46-10 in the second Test on Saturday.
The home side ran in seven tries in all, with wing Matt Worley and prop Keelan Chapman both scoring inside the first 20 minutes at Aberdeen Sports Ground.
Victory gave new head coach Andrew Douglas his second win of the week, after Tuesday night’s 29-16 triumph, and the New Zealander said he was “very happy” with the result.
“The goal after Tuesday was to take another step up, and I think we did that in general,” Douglas said. “Obviously there are parts of the game we need to be better at, managing things, but in general very happy.”
Brechin was one of eight new players Hong Kong have used over the past five days, with a prime focus of the November matches being to add some depth to the squad.
Douglas has also been keen to start building a platform for next year, and said there had been a deliberate move to ensure the short time the squad had together was as intense as possible.
His players certainly brought an intensity to their performance on Saturday, and while scoring a hatful of tries is always nice, the defensive display, particularly at the start of the second half, may well have been the most impressive part of the day.
Up 22-10 at the break, with Germany’s try from Felix Lammers reducing the deficit to 14-10 before Brien scored his first on the stroke of half-time, Hong Kong might have expected to put more space between themselves and their opponents.
Instead, after fullbacks Paul Altier, who kicked seven points, and Edoardo Stella had both missed penalties, Germany laid siege to the Hong Kong line for almost 10 minutes.
The home side did everything they could to stop the visitors, not all of it legal, and after one penalty too many, lock Mark Prior was sin-binned. Still, Germany could find no way through, and were eventually sent away empty-handed when Hong Kong won a scrum under their own posts.
“The character we showed and determination to keep that line intact was really heartening,” Douglas said. “It just shows the desire they have for the jersey and to work hard for each other. So, immensely proud of that.”
While the head coach said he would rather his team hadn’t been there “in the first place”, he thought holding out, and a sensational 50-22 kick from Worley soon after that spun Germany around had turned the game.
Another clever kick, this time from fly half Nathan De Thierry, finally got Hong Kong on the board again, with Brien collecting on the run to grab his second.
Brechin added his first soon after, touching down following a piece of magic from Harry Laidler, whose no-look between the legs pass outfoxed the Germany defence.
At 34-10 there was little doubt as to the final outcome, and Brechin’s second and Brien’s third added a little more gloss to Hong Kong’s day.
