Hong Kong show fighting spirit
After a disappointing start against Zimbabwe, Varty & Co get past Georgia and Scotland to boost hopes of earning core-team status
Scotland's bravehearts were undone by an even braver Hong Kong, who yesterday stated their intent of becoming a core team in the HSBC Sevens World Series next season by knocking off the top seeds in the qualifying tournament at the London Sevens by the narrowest of margins.
A brace of tries from winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing spurred Hong Kong to a superb 20-19 victory in their final pool game. It was the perfect ending to an otherwise patchy performance in defeat to Zimbabwe and victory over Georgia.
"This win over the No 1 seeds will raise our confidence level," said Hong Kong head coach Dai Rees. "But it changes nothing, we still have to come out [today] and perform."
And first-up will be Spain, a core team this season who were relegated for finishing in the bottom three of the World Series.
Hong Kong finished fourth in the rankings after yesterday's round-robin competition, while Spain placed fifth.
Hong Kong's high expectations will have been massively boosted by the win over Scotland on a rabbit-warren of a pitch described as a "disgraceful plough field" by Hong Kong Rugby Football Union chairman Trevor Gregory.
This tournament has taken on an "Us v Them" tone with organisers separating the 12 teams in the top tier and the eight teams in the qualifiers into two categories. Not only have the two groups been segregated as far as hotels go, Hong Kong and the rest of the core-team hopefuls were also accommodated on an uneven outside pitch for two of their three games each.