Hong Kong Sevens Team Finishes Fifth at World Games

Hong Kong claimed fifth spot in the World Games beating Olympic hosts Brazil in their final game, 22 – 7, in what will be the last time that rugby sevens will be represented at the World Games.

Hong Kong were never in fear of the result despite being held 7 – 7 at half-time, with second half tries to Hewson, Varty and Maize securing a comfortable win.

In Hong Kong’s first match of Day 2 action in Cali, Colombia, the quarterfinal match versus France, Hong Kong came agonizingly close to playing for a medal. Had it not been for a disallowed try in the dying seconds of the match that afforded France the opportunity to progress to the medal semi-finals.

As Dai Rees lamented, “We could’ve, maybe should’ve been in with a medal shot. We played superbly well against France, but the bounce of the ball didn’t go our way on two occasions – we actually scored on full-time, but it was disallowed for a forward pass. We would have been in the semi-finals and a very real shot at a medal”

Dai Rees - Click to Enlarge (more pics)

Hong Kong, despite starting the tournament slowly had shown long periods of strong performance against both Canada and South Africa, growing in confidence and ready to add another ‘core team’ feather to their bow. “With the performance against France, it was outstanding. But for a forward pass, we would have had another scalp,” Rees added.

Backing up from the huge disappointment in front of the swelling 20,000 crowd, Hong Kong excelled and easily disposed of Uruguay, 17 – 7 with tries to Kwok Ka Chun, Nick Hewson and Tom McQueen.

“I could not have been more proud as the boys were fantastic and bounced back strongly in our next games against South American foes, which were heavily supported in the stadium. But our performances in a 3 games today were superb and we never really felt under too much pressure in the last 2 games. The boys played extremely well,” Rees said.

In what has been an excellent weekend for Hong Kong rugby on the world stage, the World Games in Cali, Columbia represent the last occasion that rugby sevens will feature.

The start of Dai Rees’ coaching career with Hong Kong commenced with the World Games in Taiwan. But Cali could not have been more of a contrast. “There were roughly 15 - 20,000 people in the stadium each day, the crowd were electric - in fact I have never known a crowd to participate in every move, pass, tackle. Players were mobbed by a very friendly and happy crowd all of the time for autographs and photos, both inside and outside of the stadium and it has just been incredible for the players to experience this atmosphere - I suppose almost like an Olympics atmosphere because while they appreciated everything that was done on the field, the people here (in Cali) have just appreciated the sport for what it was. It was a fantastic occasion,” he said.

The Hong Kong team and staff will return home to start preparations for the defense of the Asian Sevens Series title and the National Games in China.