Hong Kong kick off Asian series with stylish wins

Tom McQueen matched his long-haired rock-star looks with some rock-star moves on the field, scoring four tries to help Hong Kong move smoothly into the Cup competition in the first leg of the Asian Sevens Series at Hong Kong Football Club on Saturday.

"Cut it" someone shouted from the stands after he scored a hat-trick against Kazakhstan in the opening game. Hopefully he will ignore that cry, we know what happened to Samson.

But it wasn't a one-man show for Hong Kong, to the delight of Hong Kong Sports Institute head coach Gareth Baber, whose brief next month is to bring back a medal from the Asian Games in Incheon, preferably a gold one.

"We came out to win two games and accomplished that. I'm happy with that as well as [the performance of] a couple of younger players who had their first hit-outs and they didn't look out of place," Baber said.

Baber was referring to Michael Coverdale and Jack Capon who were making their debuts. Both emerged with flying colours, particularly Coverdale who started as a forward in both games and looks a natural ball winner in the air and ground, aspects which helped Hong Kong win plenty of possession.

"They were a bit nervy at times, which is understandable, but they played their part to make sure we got two from two," said Baber after Hong Kong beat Kazakhstan 38-5 and a feisty Philippines outfit 24-0.

Hong Kong will now meet Singapore in the Cup quarter-finals with Sri Lanka or Malaysia in store in the semi-finals.