Coach Anna Richards leads Hong Kong into unknown territory
Hosts handed tough draw for Women’s Sevens World Series qualifier on home turf
Hong Kong’s women sevens players will face one of their toughest challenges yet when they bid for glory on home turf in next month’s Women’s Sevens World Series qualifying event.
The International Rugby Board on Tuesday announced details of the 12-team international tournament including the pools, and the home side have been handed a difficult draw in pool C where they will face favourites Brazil and the Netherlands, and Portugal.
At the centre of the ambitious home side’s campaign is coach Anna Richards who, as a four-time winner of the Women’s Rugby World Cup with New Zealand’s Black Ferns, is no stranger to the pressures of top-level rugby.
If we can post some good results we may be invited to play in an IRB tournament, so there are plenty of incentives for us to perform well
But she acknowledges that there is a world of difference between leading New Zealand to victory in the WRWC and coaching relative minnows Hong Kong in a series qualifier.
“This will be a massive challenge. The likes of Netherlands, Brazil, France, Japan and China have all been playing on the circuit for the past year,” Richards said. “They all played well, too, so it won’t be easy for us.”
Hong Kong’s one advantage is that they will host the competition at Shek Kip Mei Stadium, however Richards believes that home support won’t lessen the enormity of the task at hand.
“The reality is if we hadn’t hosted it we wouldn’t have been able to take part in the tournament, so it’s a massive opportunity for us to get the chance to play against some great teams,” she said.