Hong Kong draw first blood in two-test series against Belgium
Hong Kong ushered in Christmas celebrations early after they pulled off a stunning 28-17 victory over Belgium at King's Park on Tuesday to give new captain Nick Hewson much cheer.
Hong Kong ushered in Christmas celebrations early after they pulled off a stunning 28-17 victory over Belgium at King's Park on Tuesday to give new captain Nick Hewson much cheer.
The victory was put down to a "squad effort" by head coach Leigh Jones and his views were best exemplified by the two fly-halves in the squad.
Chris McAdam and Ben Rimene both knocked over crucial penalties either side of the break, as the hosts refused to allow Belgium to pull away, always staying within one point of their opponents in the first half before later dominating the scoreboard.
This is a huge win for us and we have got to build on this performance. We have got a group of players who are quite confident and that showed today
"It was a 23-man effort, and a very courageous one at that, too," said a delighted coach Jones. "At halftime the plan was to stay in touch and also try and score the first points after the break, and we did that giving us the momentum."
Hong Kong, led by flanker Hewson for the first time, trailed 17-12 at the break with Kowloon fly-half McAdam keeping his side in touch with his boot, converting four penalties in a somewhat scrappy affair with the visitors desperately trying to impose their authority.
Ranked 25th in the world, four above Hong Kong, Belgium were on paper the clear favourites underlined by their 24-12 victory a year ago in Dubai when they won the now-defunct Emirates Airline Cup of Nations.
An early try from scrum-half Julien Berger and four penalties from fly-half Chris Brown gave them a hard-fought lead.