In the taxi bringing Scottish internationals John Barclay and Graeme Morrison to King's Park for a prize-giving ceremony, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union official Robbie McRobbie tried to explain to the driver in Cantonese the significance of the two players in his cab. The bemused taxi driver looked round and shouted: 'Ah, NBA!'
He actually wasn't that far off the mark. Although Morrison and Barclay couldn't be compared to Chinese NBA superstars Yao Ming or Yi Jianlian, in local rugby terms this was as good as it gets because Hong Kong could also lay claim to them.
Both spent their formative years here and this was where they first caught the rugby bug.
Morrison was born in the Adventist Hospital, attended Kellett School and Peak School until primary six, before moving to Dollar Academy in Scotland.
'My dad, Kenneth, played for Scotland at B-team level so he was always pretty keen on me playing. I got the taste for playing rugby here,' Morrison said.
'At boarding school at Dollar I played a lot more seriously. My experiences of playing in Hong Kong after that was coming back here on Christmas holidays and playing for the Overseas Schoolboys in the annual New Year's Day tournament at Hong Kong Football Club.
'Kenzo Pannell [who scored for Hong Kong against Portugal yesterday] played scrumhalf on these teams. He e-mailed me recently to see if I was coming out here. He's the only player I really remember from those days.'