‘No easy games’: Hong Kong men’s and women’s squads brace for sevens ‘chaos’ at home
- Hong Kong men’s sevens coach Paul John says every game next weekend will be a battle and no wins are guaranteed
- The women and men kick off the Hong Kong Sevens on April 4 and 5 respectively
“Look, there are no easy games,” said John after his team wrapped a practise session on Saturday which saw them scrimmage with the Fijian sevens team, who sit third in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings behind the US and New Zealand.
“There are some very good teams in this tournament, so it’s getting harder and harder to win, there’s a lot of effort from teams all over the world given the Olympics are coming next year.”
Hong Kong’s men, who are slotted in the qualifier group, have drawn Tonga, Zimbabwe, and the Philippines for their group games, avoiding two team that beat them in 2018 – Chile and Germany.
John, who is currently training with 16 players, will have to cut his squad down to 12 the day before the Sevens kicks off. His team recently returned from a tournament in Borneo which saw them lose in the final game to a local team made up primarily of Fijians and New Zealanders.
“We will probably cut down on Monday in the build up to the week,” said John, who faces a number of tough decisions in picking his squad. “Probably on Tuesday we will have a finalised squad of 14, which will go down to 12.”
John took a bunch of younger players to Borneo, and looks to field a youthful squad when it comes to the Hong Kong Sevens. Players such as Max Woodward, Mak Kwai-chung, Raef Morrison, Max Denmark and Kane Boucaut all represent a movement which the Hong Kong Rugby Union is looking to promote moving forward.
However, one of the veterans who is probably a lock for the team is 34-year-old Hong Kong legend Ben Rimene, who surrendered his New Zealand passport to help his team win Asian Games gold late last year. Rimene said he’s lost count of how many times he’s played at the Hong Kong Sevens “maybe five or six now”, and said he isn’t thinking about retirement at all.
“It is what it is, no one expects to be picked. If it is my last, it’s my last, if it’s not, I’m pretty content with what I’ve achieved with the squad. Obviously I’m nearing the end of my career but I still think I can help this team. I don’t really have a timeline to be honest.”
Rimene said he likes seeing the next generation of talent starting to take shape.
“The youth of the squad is showing, there’s a lot of young boys about. And this tournament could be a big occasion for them and for their family and friends.”
He added the squad is looking to do well in their group and disrupt from there.
“Anything can happen in knockout rugby, and anything is possible so that is what we’re aiming for.”
“Look we’ve got to get back in competitive sevens mode pretty quickly here, the 15 [a-side] season finished three weeks ago, so a lot of boys were playing in the premiership and the cup final. So to get back in the sevens, and go back and forth, is sometimes difficult. So as soon as we got everyone back it was important to get into sevens mode and the sevens mindset.”
Hong Kong sevens women’s head coach Iain Monaghan, who took over the squad in January, said while this isn’t his first Hong Kong Sevens (he was part of the coaching staff for the men’s Scottish team a few years back), the first at the helm for the local women will definitely be of note.
“I’m excited like the girls, we’ve worked really hard to be in this position.”
The women have drawn Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Uganda for their group games. Monaghan said he’s fairly happy with the 12 players he will ultimately select for the squad.
“It’s a good mix of youth and experience. We’re very much performance driven here and because the athletes are full time we can really put them under the magnifying glass. But we’re very clear on our objective.”
