GOD made the world in six days. Can Hong Kong rugby, in this same time frame, make play-makers out of normal, solid players? This is the question facing George Simpkin, the territory's rugby coach, after seeing Hong Kong well and truly beaten by the American Eagles in two practice sevens games at Happy Valley yesterday.
It is back to the drawing board for Hong Kong, who lacked a player capable of creating opportunities and looked well below par, losing 33-12 and 28-12 to the Americans.
A third game, which was on the cards, was called off at the Americans' request. Perhaps they felt that they should not belittle the hospitality of their hosts.
But enough had happened to demoralise the territory, whose ambition at next weekend's Hong Kong Sevens is to enter the Cup competition. To do that, they need a play-maker. A precious commodity since Fijian Moape Ravuvu stayed at home after the territory's debut at the Fiji Sevens earlier this month.
'Between now and Friday I need to find a play-maker, or else turn someone into a play-maker,' said a disappointed Simpkin yesterday after watching his team play two mistake-ridden games. 'All our preparations involved Moape in this crucial role.
'Now that we have lost him, there is no one at the moment capable of filling his shoes,' added Simpkin.
This task will most probably fall on Robin Bredbury's shoulders. But yesterday, Bredbury was off-colour. An option which Simpkin may now consider is to move Vaughan Going into the central position of fly-half.
