Hong Kong women out of running for berth in Sevens World Series
Hong Kong's failure to produce "the magical 14 minutes" against the Netherlands and Portugal on Friday ended their hopes of playing for a berth in the IRB Women's Sevens World Series. The local side finished winless despite pushing both opponents close at Shek Kip Mei in the preliminaries.
Hong Kong's failure to produce "the magical 14 minutes" against the Netherlands and Portugal on Friday ended their hopes of playing for a berth in the IRB Women's Sevens World Series.
The local side finished winless despite pushing both opponents close at Shek Kip Mei in the preliminaries.
Hong Kong lost 12-10 to the Dutch, having led 10-0 at halftime, and then came back against Portugal from 7-19 down to level the scores before conceding a converted try in the last minute to lose 26-19.
"Our first and last matches were very close losses, where we basically gave a half up to our opponents," said disappointed coach Anna Richards. "We played a very good seven minutes in both games but couldn't string together two consecutive halves.
"It is the magical 14 minutes, the 14 minutes of excellence as I call it. To do well and make the IRB series you need to work your bum off. You need to play for 14 minutes and play well for 14 minutes and we couldn't do that."
Hong Kong, led by Royce Chan Leong-sze, also lost to Brazil 22-0 to finish bottom of their pool.
"We are better than what we showed, especially in the game versus Brazil. I think it is a mental thing now. We work hard, we're fit, but it is all about mental application at this level and being able to maintain our focus for those 14 minutes," Richards said.
Hong Kong will now meet Kenya in the Bowl semi-final.
The top four from this 12-team competition will qualify as core teams on the IRB Women's Sevens Series. Fiji and the Netherlands were the only two teams to finish unbeaten on the opening day.
The Cup quarter-finals will pit Fiji v Portugal, China v Brazil, France v Japan and the Netherlands against South Africa.
Day One results:
Fiji 52-7 Argentina; Japan 31-0 Kenya; France 19-21 South Africa; China 44-0 Mexico; Brazil 38-7 Portugal; Netherlands 12-10 Hong Kong; Fiji 45-0 Kenya; Japan 35-0 Argentina; France 66-0 Mexico; China 31-7 South Africa; Brazil 22-0 Hong Kong; Netherlands 14-0 Portugal; Fiji 33-7 Japan; Argentina 19-5 Kenya; France 26-7 China; South Africa 36-0 Mexico; Brazil 0-7 Netherlands; Portugal 26-19 Hong Kong.
