It is perhaps ominous that on the eve of today's international against Singapore, authorities of this city state decided to lift a 12-year ban on chewing gum. Does this herald a sticky end to Hong Kong's hopes of keeping their slate clean against these Asian minnows?
The nature of the game has already come unstuck. What was deemed to be a 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying match - China being the other team in this preliminary round - is not so, according to officials. In a last-minute change, the International Rugby Board (IRB) went back on its original schedule and decided that the Asian Zone qualifiers would start next year.
'We only heard about this at last weekend's Asian Rugby Football Union council meeting in Kazakhstan. But these games are still important in the World Cup context as the seedings for Asia will be done on these results. The IRB may have changed the qualifying schedule, but for the players, what matters is to go out there and win,' said Allan Payne, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union executive director, who was at the meeting in Almaty.
'It doesn't make any difference to us for our goal is to win every time we go out on the paddock,' said Hong Kong captain Lachlin Miller.
Hong Kong should boost their ratings in Asia today. Still, one cannot easily dismiss the Singaporeans. They are no more of the class of 1994, when Hong Kong posted the world record score of 164-13 at the Asian Championships. Former Valley flier Ashley Billington's 10 tries is another world record.
'I don't think you will see that happen,' laughed Miller. The only time he played against Singapore, in 2002, Hong Kong scraped to a 10-3 victory. Unlike the 1994 team of professionals, the 30-year-old Valley lock forward is in charge of a mixed team of budding Chinese still being groomed and a core of hardcore 'expatriates' who are qualified under the IRB's three-year residency rule.