Posts from the park | Sevens squads step out on long road to Rio

The start of a new rugby season in Hong Kong also means the start of another ARFU Asian Sevens Series.

With the first leg of this year’s three-tournament circuit being held in Hong Kong – and with the added objective of preparing for the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea at the end of September – this year’s series is hugely important for both our men’s and women’s teams.

With this in mind, the men have been training hard in Hong Kong and also away from home in a training camp with the Canada Sevens team in British Columbia last month.

We were able to get a lot of vital work done as a team in the training camp and also to test ourselves against one of the top teams in the IRB Sevens World Series in Canada.

This experience will prove invaluable when we start our Asian campaign in Hong Kong. Since returning from North America it has been awesome to see all the hard work paying off, particularly for some of the less experienced players.

The likes of Jack Capon and Mike Coverdale performed really well in the games against Canada and they have picked up right where they left off after returning to the Hong Kong Sports Institute.