How best mates Ben Rimene and Lee Jones cut path from NZ to Hong Kong Sevens coalface
The Kiwi pair grew up down the road from one another in Cambridge and have played rugby together for most of their lives
Hong Kong is a long way from the sleepy New Zealand town of Cambridge – literally and figuratively – but for Ben Rimene and Lee Jones, life in the two places has plenty of similarities.
The pair grew up down the road from each other in Cambridge and played school and club rugby together in New Zealand before eventually going into battle for Hong Kong alongside each other.
They lived together at university in Hamilton and are still housemates in Hong Kong, with Friday marking the beginning of yet another quest to earn Hong Kong a spot on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
“We started going to primary school together. We lived five minutes walk from each other, I’d walk to his house and pick him up and we’d walk to school together when we were maybe nine or 10,” Jones said.
Jones, 31, first came to Hong Kong in 2007 and debuted for Hong Kong before 32-year-old fly half Rimene, who arrived here in 2009, with the lifelong friends first playing on the same Hong Kong team during the 2012 Asia Rugby Sevens Series.
They played in the 2013 Sevens World Cup together and have since played in the same Hong Kong 15s team many times, adding to the years of experience built representing Cambridge High School, Hautapu and Societe Generale Valley.