Hong Kong rugby sevens men’s team crush Koreans again in Asian series – and this time it’s a 60-point thrashing
- Weeks after beating South Korea to gold in Asian Games final, Hong Kong step up another level at Asia Rugby Sevens Series event in Bangkok, going unbeaten
- They progress to Sunday’s semi-finals, as do the city’s women, who win two from three
Hong Kong’s men’s team hammered old foes South Korea at the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Thailand as they completed a clean sweep of pool-stage victories.
Fresh from their gold medal-winning performance at the Asian Games, Hong Kong blew away the Koreans 61-0 at this weekend’s ARSS event.
They had squeezed past the same opponents 14-7 in the final in Hangzhou to seal their Games triumph last month.
But they were bolstered this time by players who had been ineligible at the Games – non-passport-holders – and the reintroduction of Pierce Mackinlay-West, Seb Brien, Harry Sayers and Callum McCullough seemed to make a difference as head coach Jevon Groves’ team booked a semi-final clash with United Arab Emirates on Sunday.
Before routing their toughest group opponents, they had begun the competition by defeating Malaysia 43-5, before scoring 43 unanswered points against Singapore.
The competition in Bangkok is more than a mere warm-up for next month’s Olympic qualification tournament in Japan.