Hong Kong make Japan work hard for victory
The home side effectively slowed down the visitors but in the end lost by six tries to nil
It seemed as if the foundations of the Great Wall had been moved to Hong Kong Football Club yesterday as Japan floundered on a brave and unyielding Hong Kong defensive line at the Asian Five Nations Top Five competition before running out 38-0 winners.
It was shades of the Spartans at Thermopylae. You knew the outcome well beforehand, but you still cheered lustily for this defiant last stand. Defeat was inevitable, but Tom McColl and his men can be proud of holding back the relentless Japanese attacks for as long as they did. And they did it with heart, as well as cleverly using the leniency of a Singaporean referee officiating in his first international.
That Hong Kong slowed the game down was evident to see. They denied Japan quick ball at the breakdown. Scrumhalf Peter McKee was a master at delaying tactics, flirting time and again with the sin-bin as he prevented his opponents from using the quick tap. Hong Kong's defensive line was right in the faces of the Japanese, at times straying offside.
It all made for a "thoroughly enjoyable game" for Japan head coach Eddie Jones who despite being frustrated by Hong Kong getting away with murder, still tipped his hat to his opponents.
"It was a tough game and we expected it. We knew they would be up for this game," Jones said. "They slowed it down excellently. It was good coaching by Hong Kong and I'm not complaining. It was a situation we had to cope with and our execution was not that flash. But we still won scoring six tries and we never looked like losing the game."
Expectations that Japan only had to turn up to win were blown away as they failed to dominate in the fashion they are used to. Last week they ran in 18 tries against the Philippines but Hong Kong was tough and full of grit, and they were more than a mouthful.