Veteran Zhang drives China to win A5N promotion
Johnny Zhang Zhiqiang almost singlehandedly won China promotion to the HSBC Asian Five Nations Division Two next year when the recalled star scored 18 points, through a hat-trick of tries and a drop goal, as the mainland defeated Guam 28-18 in the Division Three final in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Johnny Zhang Zhiqiang almost singlehandedly won China promotion to the HSBC Asian Five Nations Division Two next year when the recalled star scored 18 points, through a hat-trick of tries and a drop goal, as the mainland defeated Guam 28-18 in the Division Three final in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Zhang, a familiar face with Hong Kong rugby fans having played many times at the Hong Kong Sevens, was called back to lead the national side and lift their flagging fortunes in 15s, where they had plummeted from Division One to the third grade.
And the veteran playmaker repaid the faith shown in him as he turned out a second-half masterclass as China came back from an 18-5 deficit at half-time to win the crucial game to ensure promotion into Division Two in 2012.
'I hope the win will raise the profile of 15s rugby in China where we focus primarily on sevens. We have good players at 15-a-side and this is a base we can build on for Division Two next year,' Zhang said.
'Some of our younger players were nervous in the first half and I think the occasion may have gotten to them a bit. But at half-time we settled down and used the conditions to our advantage.
'We had many new players on the team but we got the result we needed, while also gaining experience.'
After the interval, Zhang came out and single-handedly racked up 18 consecutive, unanswered points in 25 minutes through three tries and a drop goal as China regained the lead under swirling conditions. They never looked back.
'It was a game of two halves with the wind, and China managed to play to the conditions better than we did,' said Guam coach Willie Hetaraka.
'We did well in the first half but all credit to China. They exploited the conditions perfectly and made use of their size to score more points with the wind at their backs than we did.'
A last-gasp try from scrumhalf Kirk Arundale gave hosts Indonesia a thrilling 20-19 victory over Pakistan in the third-place play-off.
