Hong Kong U20s ready to mix it up with world’s best
When Hong Kong’s U20s take on some of the future stars of the game next month in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy, they will be able to draw inspiration from one of their own who is about to make his Hong Kong Sevens debut.
When Hong Kong’s U20s take on some of the future stars of the game next month in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy, they will be able to draw inspiration from one of their own who is about to make his Hong Kong Sevens debut.
Raef Morrison, who has been named in the Hong Kong men’s sevens squad for this weekend, has been an influential member of the U20s representative squad and was involved in the senior sevens side that competed in the Zimbabwe Sevens last weekend.
The Hong Kong Football Club flanker – together with DeA’s Chris Maize, Hong Kong Cricket Club’s Mike Parfitt, Valley’s Theo Rolston and Club’s Mike Coverdale – is expected help the home side make an impact in the IRB Trophy.
“Chris and Raef are obviously influential player for us,” said team manager Paul Renouf. “Chris is just coming back from injury. That’s the only real worry we have – that players get injured – but we are happy with how our preparations have gone for the tournament.”
However, Hong Kong U20s coach Pale Tauti is under no illusions about the size of the task that lies ahead.
“We’ll be going in as underdogs for every game, but we’ll be looking to be very competitive, if not get the win. I’ve a lot of confidence in the personnel we have,” Tauti said.
“The pressure won’t get to them. Most of them have either regularly featured in senior men’s domestic rugby here in Hong Kong or played at underage national level. It means they’re getting exposure to adult rugby, which only helps their development.”
“It’s an amazing [tournament] and it’ll be a unique experience for the team,” he added.
The IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2014 is being held in Asia for the first time and teams from eight international unions – Canada, Georgia, Japan, Namibia, Tonga, the United States, Uruguay and the hosts – will take part from April 7-19 at Hong Kong Football Club.
The tournament will include 16 matches, starting with the pool rounds on April 7, 11 and 15. The finals will be held on April 19.
The United States and Canada are the top seeds and head pools A and B. Fourth seeds Tonga, fifth seeds Georgia and hosts Hong Kong (the eighth seeds) round out Pool A, while Pool B sees third seeds Japan, sixth seeds Uruguay and seventh seeds Namibia join the Canadians.
Hong Kong U20s squad (club in brackets)
Ryan Aylsworth (Hong Kong Scottish), Sebastien Brien (Newcastle), James Christie (Newcastle), Zac Cinnamond (HKCC), Patrick Cook (Valley), Michael Coverdale (HKFC), Elliot Croft (Nottingham Uni), Joseph Dignan (HKCC), Fin Field (HKCC), Kevin Field (DeA), Calvin Hunter (DeA), Jason Jeyam (DeA), Oscar Kurten (DeA), Eric Kwok (City RFC), Chris Maize (DeA), John Markley (Valley), Raef Morrison (HKFC), Nicholas Ngan Kee (Hong Kong Scottish), Liam Owens (Valley), Michael Parfitt (HKCC), Rupert Phillips (DeA), Alexander Post (HKCC), Andrew Purton (HKFC), Theo Rolston (Valley), Hugo Stiles (Valley), Vincent Young (Kowloon).
