Rugby became the first team sport to win a medal for Hong Kong at the Asian Games. The only thing is, the medal was the wrong colour.
Hong Kong had to settle for silver after Japan, down to six men for five minutes of the second half in the final yesterday, held on to win 28-21 to deny Mark Wright and his men a more exalted place in the records.
While a silver medal is nothing to be sneezed at, at the end of the day, no one quite remembers who came second. And Rowan Varty summed up that feeling in the squad, when he said: 'It hurts a lot.'
But head coach Dai Rees said failing to capture the gold should not distract from the 'enormity' of having won a silver medal.
'It was an outstanding performance,' he said. 'We had the opportunity to win, but we didn't lose it.
'A couple of controversial decisions by the referee cost us.'
