SAR pin hopes on China upsetting Taiwan

Hong Kong will wait with bated breath today, hoping earnestly that China will cause a major upset and defeat Taiwan when the two sides clash in a historic encounter at the 2003 Rugby World Cup second round Asian zone qualifying competition at the Shanghai Football Club.

'I'm sure Hong Kong have pinned their hopes on us,' said China coach George Simpkin yesterday. Despite the rather poor telephone connection to his hotel room in Shanghai, there was no mistaking Simpkin's rather dry inflection of tone. After nearly five seasons, the SAR are once again depending on its former coach and technical director of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union to pull local rugby out of trouble.

Hong Kong's 20-15 reversal to Taiwan last week in Tainan has placed them in the position where they have to depend on China for favours. And it won't come any bigger than a victory over Taiwan for then Hong Kong's World Cup hopes will be resurrected - at least for a little longer. The winner of the second round moves into the last qualifying section where they will be up against Asian powerhouses Japan and South Korea.

It will be the first time that China will meet Taiwan at 15-a-side. It is this lack of experience that is worrying Simpkin who has been at the helm of Chinese rugby ever since they became International Rugby Board members in 1997.

'We should be okay in the set pieces but we don't have the experience to control the game in the loose. The squad has had no opposition and all training has involved set phase play. It will be difficult for us as Taiwan's strength lies in the loose and controlling play at the breakdown,' Simpkin said.

Simpkin also revealed that key loose forward Xiu Hue was injured and would be missed badly along with two other first choice players, a hooker and a winger. But wet conditions in Shanghai might however favour China who will want to play it tight and close to their forwards in an attempt to thwart Taiwan's counter-attacking style.