Japan await flawless Hong Kong

The maxim that attack is the best form of defence was turned on its head by Hong Kong who showed the best way to win at rugby sevens is to defend strongly.

Rowan Varty and his men turned iron-clad defence into annihilating weapon as Hong Kong finished unbeaten with their goal-line intact on the opening day of the Mumbai Sevens at the Bombay Gymkhana Club.

Three handsome wins over India (43-0), United Arab Emirates (42-0) and Thailand (66-0) have paved the way for a much-anticipated clash with arch-rivals Japan for the spoils in the third and last ranking leg of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series.

The winners of today's final are expected to be crowned Asian champions, a title which carries with it the rewards of earning a berth against the core teams - the likes of New Zealand and Fiji - at next year's Hong Kong Sevens as well as an invitation to the final leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in London.

If Hong Kong defend as well as they did yesterday, those rewards are expected to fall safely into their laps at day's end today.

"We seem to have a complete game now with the focus on defence where the aim is to win the ball back and score tries from that. This is something we did very well today," said a pleased Hong Kong coach Dai Rees.