Coach Richards battling to keep Hong Kong grounded ahead of Asian sevens series opener in Qingdao
With the Olympic qualifiers looming, Hong Kong women’s sevens head coach Anna Richards is trying to keep her team grounded as they kick off the season at the China Sevens in Qingdao this weekend.
With the Olympic qualifiers looming, Hong Kong women’s sevens head coach Anna Richards is trying to keep her team grounded as they kick off the season at the China Sevens in Qingdao this weekend.
After reaching the Plate final at the World Rugby 2015-16 Women’s Sevens Series qualifiers in Ireland two weeks ago, Hong Kong tackle the first leg of the Asian sevens series starting Saturday ahead of the two-leg Asia Rugby Olympic Qualifiers in Hong Kong on November 7-8.
The second leg of the women’s Olympic qualifier takes place November 28-29 in Japan.
It was good to get the win against China in Dublin, especially in a close game like that. That was their front-line team
“It is the dream of every girl in the [Hong Kong rugby] programme to play in the Olympics, but Asia is still extremely important to us,” said coach Richards. “It’s good we have two tough tournaments in the series before November – and against the teams we will play in the Olympic qualifiers.”
Richards has set the bar high, with the team’s objective “to finish better than where we did [third] in 2014”. That means beating one of the traditional powerhouses – Japan or China.
Hong Kong have beaten defending Asian champions China twice this year – once at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Women’s Sevens in March and again in Ireland last month.
“It was good to get the win against China in Dublin, especially in a close game like that. That was their front-line team, while the China side in Hong Kong may have been a bit inexperienced,” said Richards.
“It will give the girls confidence. With back-to-back wins it’s important we maintain that momentum but we’re in the same pool so will be facing them again in Qingdao.”