Hong Kong men’s rugby finish second in Challenger Series and await World Rugby decision

A successful campaign in South America has put Hong Kong’s men’s rugby sevens team in a prime spot to potentially qualify for the 2020-21 World Rugby Sevens Series.

World Rugby has yet to determine if the Cathay Pacific/HSBC 2020 Hong Kong Sevens, which has been rescheduled from April to October, will still serve as the qualifying portion of the series this year given it has been pushed back seven months due the coronavirus outbreak. There could also be another Challenger Series leg (World Rugby’s website notes March in Stellenbosch, South Africa as a potential).

The squad finished second and third respectively in the two-legged Challenger Series, held over two weekends in South America. The team bested Chile 12-7 in their final match to take third place after losing 12-0 to Uruguay, who were playing on home soil in Montevideo.

Hong Kong lost the final of the first leg to Germany 10-0 last weekend in Chile. This places them second overall behind Germany and ahead of Japan. Head coach Paul John said it was a rough and tumble two weeks which saw them play five games over two weekends in two separate countries in South America.

“There are a lot of bruised and battered bodies and we leave on Monday but don’t get home until Thursday, so I hope that we can have a week off at least,” said John. “It can be difficult to manage the second weekend in a swing like this. There is a temptation to overtrain or to train more after the opening leg but you may need to train less. We only trained twice this week to focus on our recovery and getting ready.”

By the end of the second weekend, the squad were down two players (Liam Herbert on the first day and Jamie Hood, who went out during the quarter-final on Sunday, both to injury). John said overall the experience has definitely given his boys some experience in the grit category.

“It has been a very, very tough tour with two tournaments back to back and 40 hours of travel to get here. We picked up a few injuries in the past two days, with Liam not playing at all today and Jamie not able to go after the opening game. We didn’t want to risk anyone else in terms of worsening those injuries. Even down to 10 men the boys are disappointed with the Uruguay game.”

Hong Kong now set their sights on the daunting task of trying to qualify for the final spot at the Tokyo Olympics when it comes to the sevens. They will head to Biarritz, France, on June 20-21 where the winners of the two-day tournament will get the 12th and final spot in Japan.

However, Hong Kong will face competitors, such as France, Ireland, Samoa and Tonga. Hong Kong missed out on the second Asia slot in December, losing in heartbreaking fashion to South Korea in extra time in Incheon. Last year during the Hong Kong Sevens the team narrowly missed a chance to qualify for the series, losing to Ireland in the finals.