Boots and allAsian Sevens Series title will mean nothing if Hong Kong don’t win Games gold

It looked as if Gareth Baber was giving the team a dressing down after they had beaten Japan to win the Malaysia Sevens, the second leg of the Asian Sevens Series, in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

But the head coach of the rugby sevens programme at the Hong Kong Sports Institute was merely driving home the point that winning two tournaments in a row, and all but ensuring we are crowned Asian champions, will count for nothing if Hong Kong do not go on to win the Asian Games gold medal in Incheon at the end of this month.

Yes, we are Asian champions again, that is unless we fail to finish third in the final leg in Beijing in mid-October. But an Asian Games gold gives you bragging rights for the next four years as the top dog in the region.

And accompanying it would be rewards for the players and the sport. The players would get a cash bonus for becoming the first team sport to win an Asian Games gold (four years ago they became the first team sport to win an Asian Games medal of any colour with silver) and rugby sevens would be assured of another four-year stint at the Sports Institute.

But the triumph in Kuala Lumpur is significant, following victory in the first leg a fortnight ago in Hong Kong. The results will have created a psychological barrier which the rest of the opposition will have to hurdle in Incheon.

Hong Kong beat both their main rivals for the gold medal, crushing South Korea 40-0 in Hong Kong and outscoring Japan four tries to one in the 24-7 victory in Kuala Lumpur.

Even more noteworthy, the Japanese had brought back their best players for the second leg and yet we overcame them with ease. In the first leg, Japan fielded four debutants and paid the price by failing to reach the Cup final.