Hong Kong Rugby Union hits the road, announces squads for European sevens training camp and competition
- Warm-up games with international opposition will be essential to Hong Kong’s preparations for the Asian Games in Hangzhou
- Immediately following the Games, men’s and women’s squads will begin preparation for 45th Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in November
It’s been a long time coming, but Hong Kong rugby players are once again gearing up for competition.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union has announced an expanded training squad for a packed, six-week European training tour as Hong Kong’s sevens squad looks ahead to the Asian Games and the return of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
A total of 43 players – 22 women and 21 men – have been selected for the tour, with a mix of established and aspiring stars. Both teams will have their first taste of international competition since last November, with tournaments set for England and Portugal.
HKRU head sevens coach Paul John is hoping the time away will provide much-needed opportunities to prepare for a frenetic international season, punctuated by the Hangzhou Asian Games in September and the HSBC Rugby World Series qualifiers in August, and culminating with the Hong Kong Sevens in November.
Training in the United Kingdom also offers the opportunity to enter both squads into two events on the UK Super Sevens Series, which takes place in May and June, and the long-running international sevens warm-up tournament in the Algarve in Portugal.
The squads feature most of Hong Kong’s top threats with men’s and women’s captains Max Woodward, Melody Li and Natasha Olson-Thorne leading dangerous players like Max Denmark, Liam Herbert, Russ Webb, Chong Ka-yan and ex-Hong Kong sprinter Hui Manling.
Nine of Hong Kong’s defending men’s gold-medal winning Asian Games squad are in the group, while all three of the debutantes for women’s coach Iain Monaghan’s team in the Asian sevens championship in Dubai last November – Sabay Lynam, Gabriella Rivers and Sabay Lynam – return for another taste of elite competition.
Both squads are sprinkled with a few uncapped players as James Sawyer, Bryn Phillips, Liam Doherty, Chloe and Micayla Baltazar, Cherly So, and Julia Mba Oyana look to cross over from Hong Kong’s Premiership ranks to the sevens game.
The need for competitions, including warm-up games with international opposition, is “essential” to Hong Kong’s preparations for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, and the men’s sevens squad’s defence of the city’s historic first ever team sport gold medal won in Jakarta in 2018.
Also looming large on the horizon is the World Rugby Challenger competition for spots on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series in South America in August. Hong Kong’s men’s team also need to prepare for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa in mid-September, marking the HKRU’s eighth straight appearance at the world championships.
The women’s squad finished in fifth place in Jakarta, and have their sights set on improving that standing at a home Asiad this autumn.
Immediately following the Asian Games, the men’s and women’s sevens squads will pivot to preparing for the 45th Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in early November, the first international sevens competition to be held in the city in more than three years.
