THE Hongkong Dragons were beaten 33-12 by the Royal Malaysian Airforce side Blackhawks in the opening match of their two-country southeast Asian tour yesterday. Coach Greg Whitmore was disappointed with the result at Kuala Lumpur despite fielding a side minus players being rested for today's Jonah Jones Sevens. The all-Asian Dragons, who next week travel to Singapore to face their national side, were down 19-0 at half-time, but had the opportunities to beat their opponents. ''It's not a good result,'' said Whitmore. ''We took a lot of bad options, and although we got on top of them at times, we never really consolidated. ''They were beatable and we did miss a lot of guys who are taking part in the Sevens, but I still wanted to start the tour with a win.'' Squad captain Leung Ka-tat, Hongkong Development player of the year Chris Chung Pak-kee, Ng Shu-wai, Ng Wai-yip and Rambo Leung Yung-kit were all rested. Also missing was Valley lock Tom Hall, who only arrived in Malaysia last night because of work commitments in the territory. Whitmore is confident the Dragons will perform well at the two-day, 16-team Jonah Jones Sevens which also include two sides from the Hongkong Police. They have been grouped with the Malaysian Police and two other local sides with the top two teams after a round-robin event advancing to the Cup quarter-finals. ''The Malaysian newspapers here have made us favourites to win,'' said Whitmore. On Tuesday, the Dragons take on the Malaysian under-23 side before travelling to Singapore. The second leg of the tour features a match against a national side for the first time in the Dragons' three-year history and also a game against the Singapore under-23 team.
