Hong Kong had little time to recover yesterday after a midnight run to Kandy for the Singer Sri Lankan Airlines Rugby Sevens. After a seven-hour flight to Colombo and a bumpy three-hour bus ride to Kandy, the team checked into their hotel at around three o'clock in the morning.
'The bus journey [from Colombo] was long and tiring. The boys were cramped at the back and were bouncing up and down,' said team captain Kris Marin.
Although they only managed some five to six hours' sleep, they went straight into training after breakfast. The team spent almost 11/2 hours training under the blistering midday sun. But Marin, a pilot for Cathay Pacific, said spirits in the camp remained high.
'The boys are very excited,' said the 25-year old. 'We'll be playing Germany, Malaysia and South Korea, and they're all beatable teams.'
During the training session Hong Kong practised their attacking moves. 'We were developing a pattern of play,' explained head coach Chris Roden. 'I told them to play deeper and pass the ball around.'
After training the team retreated back to the hotel for the swimming pool, but they still had more work to do. 'What we do here at the pool session is a wind down session,' said team physiotherapist Eddie Chan. 'We work on the muscles ... which makes recovery faster and easier.'
