Hong Kong had hoped to feed at the plate competition, but will have to settle for the scraps in the bowl after Portugal - a team they had beaten the last time they met - knocked them out of contention yesterday.
Having lost to Canada (41-0) and Australia (38-5) in their opening two games, Hong Kong desperately needed a victory in their final game last night to keep alive any hopes of reaching the plate. But Portugal strolled to a 21-0 victory.
'It is disappointing. We are all gutted. We have worked hard and done a lot of things right, but we just seem to be unable to finish things off,' said Hong Kong captain Paul Dingley, summing up a long and hard day at the office.
Hong Kong will face Fiji and Japan in their last two pool matches. Forget Fiji. With Waisale Serevi back orchestrating the attack, Fiji looked as if they had regained their old touch. Japan are equally dangerous, and showed that by beating Canada 19-7.
Dingley denied that the old bugbear - a lack of speed - was the cause once again for Hong Kong's downfall. Rather he pointed to a lack of self-belief in attack as the cause for Hong Kong's try-drought, which was only briefly broken when Andrew Chambers dived over for a last-gasp try against Australia.
Hong Kong coach Rodney McIntosh had hoped that try by Chambers would be enough to lift the team up in time for the crunch Portugal game. But the Portuguese, beaten by Hong Kong last year, were composed even when down to six men on two occasions, to thwart the home team.
