Almaty challenge awaits Hong Kong women in Asian championship opener
Last year’s runners-up look to kick off 2015 campaign by ending Kazakhstan’s unbeaten home record
Skipper Christy Cheng Ka-chi and her Hong Kong team-mates face a daunting opening match in the Asia Women’s Rugby Championship (AWRC) on Saturday when they bid to become to the first women’s fifteens team to beat Kazakhstan in their own backyard.
However coach Chris Garvey says team confidence is running high and he believes Hong Kong have a “good shot” of winning the 2015 regional title, which will be played in a round-robin format beginning with the Almaty opener before Hong Kong host Japan on May 23.
We have a good shot at winning this year. The girls are growing in self-belief
“The girls are growing in self-belief now. They are winning regularly on the sevens circuit and are beating teams like Kazakhstan and Japan,” Garvey said. “I also like the new format and the idea of travelling to play on a home-and-away basis as it is a bit more intense.
“The travel to Almaty is a challenge but we have a couple of days before the game. It’s not an excuse and we look forward to meeting them on their turf. It was heart wrenching last year going up 10-0 versus Kazakhstan only to lose by three points, but we gained confidence and bounced back to beat Japan. Hopefully that confidence will carry forward to this year,” he added.
Like the men’s Asia Rugby Championship, the women’s competition focuses on the region’s top three teams – Kazakhstan, Hong Kong and Japan.
Hong Kong started last year’s tournament seeded fourth, but they put together a series of strong performances – a narrow 10-13 loss to Kazakhstan, followed by wins against Japan (15-14) and Singapore (53-5) – to finish Asian runners-up.
Although Garvey acknowledges the size of the task facing his charges in Almaty, he believes Japan will prove their biggest threat in 2015.