Six-man Hong Kong clinch Asian U20 sevens title
Team shrug off red card to grind out hard-fought win in final against South Korea
Playing with a man down for most of the Cup final, Hong Kong dug deep to win the last leg of the ARFU U20 Sevens Series at King’s Park on Saturday and capture the overall series title.
Hong Kong’s juniors beat South Korea 20-7 in the final to add to their opening series triumph in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
The host side opened their account on day two with a 24-7 win over Taiwan before narrowly escaping in their penultimate round-robin match against Malaysia.
“It’s been a long day,” said delighted Hong Kong co-captain Alex Post after the final. “I know the guys are feeling it now after three tough games and then that final, but we stayed strong and showed great commitment.”
In the final, Hong Kong opened the scoring in the first minute when prop Richard Lewis finished off a good run by Eric Kwok Pak-nga.
But Jeyam was red-carded a minute later for tripping an opponent and Hong Kong were forced to play the remaining 12 minutes a man short.
Despite the setback, the juniors managed another try before half-time – this time from Kwok after Korean hooker Lee Jink-yu was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle – putting Hong Kong 10-0 up at the break.
Lewis then scored from the restart, giving Hong Kong a 15-0 lead, and while the Koreans scored a converted try with two minutes to go, Tomos Howells got over near the end to seal it for the hosts.
Co-captain Liam Owens said: “Losing Jason to the red card may have helped us … as everyone knew we had to work that much harder. We came together even more after that.”
“There really isn’t a big difference among the top teams in this tournament. Teams like Korea and Malaysia are very similar to us in skill levels. I think it came down to who had the better structures on the day,” he added.
Hong Kong men’s senior coach Gareth Baber was watching the action from the sidelines and was delighted with what he saw. “To come through in a final like that showed a lot of maturity. We need to ensure that we give these players the opportunity to continue to develop and progress to the senior squad,” he said.
But it wasn’t just the Hong Kong juniors who gave Baber pause for thought. “Malaysia play a good brand of rugby based on their characteristics as a nation and physically.
“It’s also interesting to watch Korea. They’re almost the same as their senior group who have posed challenges for us in the [senior sevens] series and at the Asian Games, and I can see Korean rugby really being a force in Asian sevens in a year or two.
“We have to keep ahead of that curve and need to push ourselves to be at the top of that group and hopefully reach the Sevens World Series,” Baber added.
In Saturday’s other finals, Malaysia won the Plate – and third place overall – by beating Taiwan 29-7, while Bowl-winners China scored a last-minute try to edge the vastly improved United Arab Emirates seven 17-15.
ARFU U20 Sevens Series 2014 – overall standings (final)
Pos | Team | MAS | HKG | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hong Kong | 6 | 7 | 13 |
2 | Malaysia | 5 | 5 | 10 |
3 | South Korea | X | 6 | 6 |
4= | Taiwan | X | 4 | 4 |
4= | Thailand | 3 | 1 | 4 |
6= | China | X | 3 | 3 |
6= | Singapore | 3 | X | 3 |
6= | UAE | 1 | 2 | 3 |
9 | Uzbekistan | 2 | X | 2 |
KEY: MAS-Malaysia U20 Sevens; HKG-Hong Kong U20 Sevens; Pts-series points; X-did not compete.