Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong’s men’s rugby sevens run their whole bench and blitz Malaysia in opening show of strength
- With tries from seven different players, coach Paul John gets all 12 of his players on field in their opener
- The team will play their second game of the day against Taiwan at 2:14pm Hong Kong time
Hong Kong wasted no time in showing why they are favoured to qualify for the Olympics this weekend in Incheon, South Korea, as they blasted Malaysia 54-0 in their first game of the tournament.
Veteran Salom Yiu Kam-shing, 31, opened the scoring for Hong Kong after a few minutes and the team never looked back in their opener to the 2020 Asia Rugby Men’s Sevens Olympic Qualifier at Namdong Asiad Stadium in Incheon.
Hong Kong were up 26-0 at half-time and used all 12 available players through the match. Head coach Paul John said the plan was to get his boys out on the pitch so they could get their legs moving.
“It’s always good to get that first game in and get rid of that rust and get into sevens mode,” said John. “We had a bit of defending to do at the start and I think that was good. I think it was important for us to have that test right away.”
Hong Kong got tries from seven players with captain Max Woodward, who played the whole game, scoring twice.
John said he intends to do the same for the team’s second match and go deep into his bench against Taiwan which starts at 2:44pm Hong Kong time.