A HAMSTRING injury to prop Hans Lombardo has once again highlighted the lack of depth Hong Kong face in the front-row and has raised a cloud of worry for national coach George Simpkin.
Simpkin yesterday split the Hong Kong squad into two. The main one will be the full national side to meet South Korea, in the first of two internationals, on February 4. The second is a Developing Players squad who will meet the visitors on February 1.
According to Simpkin, loose-head prop Lombardo is carrying a hamstring injury and it is creating all sorts of problems as there is no one else in the territory who qualifies under the Asian Rugby Football Union residency rules of one year.
'At the moment I'm really worried over the loose-head position. There doesn't seem to be anyone else around at the moment,' said Simpkin.
At a crunch, he could probably call upon the services of Flying Kukris prop Neil Burgin or Joe McLaddery of Aberdeen (both of whom have been picked for the Developing Players Squad).
But as neither has been in the territory for over a year, and wanting to comply by the ARFU rules for the Korean games, Simpkin is increasingly hard pressed.
Lombardo has been turning up at squad training, but failed to turn out for League champions Valley Red in their final game last Saturday. If he is declared unfit, Hong Kong will struggle against the Koreans, especially if they go ahead with a stopgap measure like asking lock Neil Alton to move up or getting hooker Brian Gilchrist to move sideways.