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Paul McNamara

Rory Stewart-Cox said Hong Kong would aim to “lay down a marker” when they meet Asian Games hosts Japan at Kai Tak Stadium on Saturday.
Earning his third cap, Stewart-Cox scored the pick of Hong Kong’s six tries on Friday as the city team began their Melrose Claymores campaign with a 36-14 demolition of overmatched China.
Evading four challenges as he sprinted half the length of the pitch, Stewart-Cox touched down to banish the frustration of an injury-hit past six months.
“It’s been an up-and-down time but I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself and when I got the ball I knew what to do,” said Stewart-Cox, who was making just his second appearance since a debut in last year’s Hong Kong tournament.
Born in Edinburgh, Stewart-Cox is racing to obtain the Hong Kong passport that will allow him to compete in the Asian Games.
“That is what I have my sights on, it’s massive for Hong Kong and for our team,” he said. “I want to be a key figure in everything we do.”
Gold medallists from the past two Games, Hong Kong will have to topple a Japan side playing on home soil in October for a third straight success.

“These are familiar teams for us, and we’ve spoken a lot about momentum, not just for this weekend but for next season,” Stewart-Cox said.
“It’s important for us to put down that marker and take it into the Asia series [in August], then the Asian Games.”
The excellent Liam Herbert got the ball rolling against China, sprinting over to give Hong Kong an early advantage. They trailed for the only time following a try for Li Benshou, but after Bryn Phillips collected a pass from Herbert to go in under the posts, the hosts never looked back.
Hong Kong’s most-capped current player, Mike Coverdale, said: “China are a big physical team, we’ve played them many times and we knew what they’d bring but we played really well.”
Matteo Avitabile capitalised on China being a man down following a yellow card to stretch Hong Kong’s lead to 17-7, after which the visitors had no answer to Stewart-Cox’s brilliance.
“You can’t really teach that X factor; some players just have it and he does,” Coverdale said. “When he gets the ball in space and opens up, he can do some pretty special things.”
Wang Guiyong supplied a second try for China, but Seb Brien ushered in first Matthew Rickard, and then Herbert for a pair of scores that ensured the result reflected Hong Kong’s superiority.

After struggling to sleep following the opening night of last year’s competition, Stewart-Cox, whose father Charlie is a former Cathay Pacific marketing chief, was more optimistic over his chances of nodding off on Friday night.
“Trying to switch off and sleep after playing in front of a crowd this size is hard, but I’ll be better this year,” he said.
“I spoke to some of the head coaches yesterday and told them that I was much calmer and more confident than last year.”
As well as Stewart-Cox, Hong Kong have four players with single-figure caps in Julien Bourron, who has five, Rickard and Blake Elliot with four, and three-cap Johnny Esono Mba Oyana.
While the 25-year-old acknowledged it was reassuring to have inexperienced company, after debuting alongside players who “played multiple Hong Kong Sevens”, Coverdale, 30, said the emerging contingent provided welcome competition for the older generation.
“We have a lot of talented, young and upcoming guys who are going to be here for the long term,” he said. “They come to me for advice and I’m always happy to share my experience and learnings.”
Already all but guaranteed a place in Sunday’s final, Hong Kong are poised to meet Japan at 3.16pm on Saturday.
“They’re one of our main Asian Games rivals and the more we can play them the better,” said Coverdale, who was winning his 55th cap. “We’re unbeaten against them this year, we want to keep that momentum going and take another good step forwards.”


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Rory Stewart-Cox gallops away from Chinese attention on his way to scoring a fabulous try for Hong Kong. Photo: Elson Li

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Rory Stewart-Cox contributes pick of Hong Kong’s six tries as hosts beat China under Kai Tak Stadium Friday night lights on day one of event


Rory Stewart-Cox contributes pick of Hong Kong’s six tries as hosts beat China under Kai Tak Stadium Friday night lights on day one of event.


Hong Kong Sevens: Latest news

Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens: hosts aiming to ‘put down Asian Games marker’ against Japan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rory Stewart-Cox contributes pick of Hong Kong’s six tries as hosts beat China under Kai Tak Stadium Friday night lights on day one of event

Rory Stewart-Cox contributes pick of Hong Kong’s six tries as hosts beat China under Kai Tak Stadium Friday night lights on day one of event