Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong trump ‘scrappy’ Afghanistan to book semi-final against Philippines
- In rough and tumble game, Hong Kong show discipline against a team who only had nine players available
- Hong Kong will now play Asian rivals Philippines in a semi-final showdown
Hong Kong opened their quest to become Olympians on Sunday with a convincing win over Afghanistan 38-0 at Namdong Asiad Stadium in Incheon, South Korea.
The 2020 Asia Rugby Men’s Sevens Olympic Qualifier will yield a coveted ticket to Japan for the winner, and Hong Kong are now two wins away from a spot in Tokyo next summer.
Afghanistan featured a few players with size flown in from New Zealand for the tournament, however Hong Kong handled the big bodies with ease as they once again went deep into their bench for the victory. Coach Paul John said the game definitely had a certain feel to it.
“[It was a] scruffy game and we made a couple of errors the first two minutes and they really wanted to slow everything down so it was frustrating,” John said. Hong Kong blitzed both Malaysia and Taiwan on their first day of competition, scoring 106 points and not conceding any.
Veteran Lee Jones led the way with two tries as John again utilised all 12 players available to him. Alex McQueen, who is on the team with his younger brother Tom, said they didn’t have much intel on the Afghanistan side before facing them.