Lock Hamish Reid-Kay heads a 25-strong Hong Kong under-20 squad which left yesterday for Brunei with high hopes of qualifying for the IRB World Junior Trophy in April.
Hong Kong, the top seeds, play three games in the tournament which serves to find the team to represent Asia in the IRB event in Chile over Easter.
Japan, the region's top side, will be playing in the World Championship in Wales at Easter, and will not take part in Brunei. The World Junior trophy is for second-tier teams.
'This under-20 tournament is a new age group,' said Hong Kong coach Mike Allen. 'The IRB used to have tournaments for under-19s and under-21s. But they have found out that most of the recognised nations have players in the senior teams by the time they are 21 and as such have brought in this new age-group event. Asia has fallen in line and this will be the first tournament.'
Fourteen teams will take part in Brunei. Hong Kong lead a top tier including South Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Thailand. Their first game will be against Malaysia tomorrow.
