Depleted Hong Kong Sevens squad loses in final seconds to Japan

It was an all-too-familiar tale for Hong Kong, who lost a gripping final 14-10 to Japan after being reduced to six men at the Malaysia Sevens yesterday.

Hong Kong playmaker Jamie Hood was sin-binned with two minutes remaining in the Cup final of the first leg of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series in Kuala Lumpur and was badly missed.

Not only were Hong Kong down in numbers hanging on to a 10-7 lead, they also lost their key lineout jumper. Seconds from the end a Hong Kong lineout five metres from the Japan try-line was lost and the ball was turned over, resulting in the breakaway winning try.

"I guess you could say it is the same-old, same-old," said disappointed coach Alex Gibbs. "Once again we have lost to Japan and once again with six men on the pitch. But there are plenty of positives we can take home from this result, the main thing is that we have blooded more players and increased the strength in depth of our squad."

Hong Kong were missing most of their senior players, who are on duty with the main squad at the China National Games in Shenyang. The sevens competition there starts today.

But despite fielding a number of newcomers, Hong Kong made it easily to the Cup final after disposing of Taiwan (29-10) and Sri Lanka (29-12) in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.