Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 results: Hong Kong crash out with defeat by Uruguay in pre-round of 16
- Three first-half tries from South American side leave Hong Kong frustrated in flat display at Cape Town Stadium
- Paul John’s men will face Zimbabwe in the Bowl quarter-finals on Saturday in South Africa
Hong Kong crashed out of the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens on Friday morning in South Africa, losing 19-7 to Uruguay in the pre-round of 16 plat-offs at Cape Town Stadium.
Three first-half tries from the South American side left Paul John’s side too much to do, with Russell Webb’s last-minute consolation try too little, too late.
Uruguay’s victory set up a quarter-final clash with Australia later on Friday, with Hong Kong left to fight for the Bowl – they face a quarter-final against Zimbabwe on Saturday.
World Cup Sevens results: Ireland, France move into quarter-finals
Uruguay sliced right through the Hong Kong defence with less than a minute gone, Baltazar Amaya finding space in behind and diving over. The conversion was missed by Guillermo Lijtenstein.
The 18th seeds then turned defence into attack, catching Hong Kong napping with Amaya getting his second try three minutes later in the right hand corner. This time Lijtenstein added the extras, making it 12-0.
Amaya was nearly in for a first-half hat-trick, chasing a grubber but knocking on as he tried to get a scoring touch.
Uruguay then immediately stole it five metres from the line, and Mateo Vinals scored underneath the sticks with his try converted for a 19-0 lead at the break.
A dispirited Hong Kong finally had a bit of possession straight from the restart, but Uruguay defended well and won a penalty.
Hong Kong upped the urgency late on, but a pair of missed passes and fumbles on the right summed up their frustrations.
John’s side did manage to save some pride, winning a penalty with 30 seconds to play, from which Webb quickly got it down and converted himself.
Earlier, Ireland had kicked off the pre-round of 16 with a crushing 24-0 victory over Portugal, thanks to tries from Sean Cribbing, Terry Kennedy, Bryan Mollen and Hugo Lennox.
Ireland will face England in the first men’s quarter-final later on Friday.
Alex Russell led the way for Canada with two tries in their 31-7 win over Zimbabwe – though Godfrey Magaramombe had given Zimbabwe a shock lead in the first minute, with his try converted by Ryan Musumhi.
Canada hit back with first-half scores from Russell and Anton Ngongo, Brock Webster adding the extras on both occasions.
Jake Thiel then touched down two minutes after the break, before Russell crossed again and Ciaran Breen touched down late on, teeing up a clash with France later on Friday.
Steve Onosai grabbed two tries for Samoa in their 33-7 victory against Uganda, with Paul Scalan and Uaina Sione also going over. Samoa will next face the USA in the quarter-finals.
Jamie Farndale was at the double for Scotland – running almost the entire length of the pitch for one try – who set up a clash with defending champions New Zealand after their 24-7 win over Jamaica.
Kaleem Barreto and Femi Sofolarin scored the other tries, with Cameron Melville crossing for Jamaica.
Kenya then eased past Tonga 19-0, with tries from Willy Ambaka, Nelson Oyoo and Vincent Onyala, and two conversions from Samuel Oliech.
They will face Argentina in the last eight.
The 2009 champions Wales set up a meeting with heavyweights Fiji after seeing off a second-half comeback from South Korea, winning 33-10.
Luke Treharne grabbed two tries, with Morgan Sieniawski, Callum Carson and Tom Brown also crossing.
In a dramatic final game in the pre-round of 16, Chile beat Germany 15-12 after extra time.
