Man with the finishing touch hopes for free-flowing second test
Rowan Varty cannot remember the exact number of tries he has scored for Hong Kong. He started playing when statistics were not all that important, but when pressed the winger is willing to hazard a guess. “Around 20 or so,” he said after his superb solo effort against Russia last Saturday at King’s Park.
Rowan Varty cannot remember the exact number of tries he has scored for Hong Kong. He started playing when statistics were not all that important, but when pressed the winger is willing to hazard a guess. “Around 20 or so,” he said after his superb solo effort against Russia last Saturday at King’s Park.
Varty has been one of the Hong Kong’s best finishers since he made his 15-a-side debut as a 17-year-old schoolboy, coming off the bench against Singapore a decade ago. Two weeks later he got his first start – against China – and he scored a brace.
In 2008, the inaugural year of the Asian Five Nations, Varty recorded a memorable hat-trick against Japan – a proud moment for player and country as not many Asians before or since have jolted the Japanese juggernaut.
Russia are a team who went to the last World Cup. They are a good team. But they are a reachable target
His estimate of tries is, of course, far too conservative which would seem to go against his very nature, for Varty is an aggressive player unafraid to take his chances.
So when Rowan Varty says Hong Kong play best when they shift the ball around he must be taken seriously, especially as we face another stern test against Russia this weekend.
“If we match the two teams, their forwards are big guys and more experienced. But in the backs, with the sevens boys being full-time, we have that edge, so when the play is more broken it plays into our hands and we can make the most of it,” Varty said of Hong Kong’s response in the second half after trailing 26-3 at the break.
And he’s right. First, we started to take a more adventurous and positive outlook, with the intention of counter-attacking at every opportunity. The second factor was Russia made the mistake of trying to play from inside their own 22, instead of employing the positional tactics they used in the first half.