World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series: Hong Kong teams prepare for final tilt at elite status
- Men’s coach Jevon Groves opts to leave out captain Max Woodward and winger Salom Yiu for second leg in Stellenbosch
- Women’s coach Paul John makes 3 changes with one eye on getting players as much international experience as possible
Hong Kong men’s coach Jevon Groves has opted to drop captain Max Woodward for this weekend’s second leg of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.
Despite Hong Kong needing to win to have any chance of qualifying for the next stage of the process to reach the World Series, Groves has made two changes to the squad that finished third in Stellenbosch five days ago.
As well as Woodward, winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing is rested, with Callum McCullough and Harry Sayers replacing the pair. Russell Webb will captain the squad with Seb Brien as vice-captain.
With plenty of rugby ahead, the decision to rest the influential duo was taken with the Asia Rugby Sevens Series and Asian Games later this year in mind.
Also playing a part was the fact that Hong Kong’s fate is not in their own hands, finishing third last time out means the likes of Tonga, who won, and Germany, who were second, need to slip up.
The winners of the men’s competition earn a place in a play-off, alongside those sides ranked 13th to 15th in the World Series, with the top team earning a place on the elite circuit.
And Hong Kong’s job has not been made any easier by being drawn in Pool C, with fourth-placed Belgium, and Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea, who finished 9th and 10th respectively.
“Every team has had a few weeks together and a tournament under their belts now, so we expect everyone to be stronger than week one,” Groves said. “We will measure our success this weekend on our defence and not conceding as many points as we did in the opener.
“We can’t focus on the series outcomes now, because it relies on the results from other teams. We can just go out and put some pride in our performance and capitalise on that opportunity to improve from week one.”
Hong Kong’s women meanwhile will use this weekend to get valuable experience, and coach Paul John has made three changes with that in mind.
Rosanna Wright, Chloe Baltazar and Agnes Tse make way for Shanna Forrest, Sabay Lynam, and the return of key player Chong Ka-yan in her first action since November.
After finishing ninth last week and with a couple of wins under their belts, John said the aim was to “keep building” some momentum.
“We won the last three games in a row, so we want to keep seeing that progression and to build on what we did on day two and three last week,” he said. “Our defence was much better, we had more urgency in defence, and that in turn helped our attack, so we just want to keep improving.”
How much improvement Hong Kong have made will be tested in Pool F, with China, Mexico and Poland all waiting for the city’s women.
“Playing China is important in the build-up to what’s coming in September [the Asian Games],” John said. “We need to learn from playing them. We have struggled over the last few years and don’t quite perform to our best against them and we need to change that.”
Men’s squad: Russell Webb (capt), Seb Brien (vice-capt), James Christie, Michael Coverdale, Max Denmark, Liam Herbert, Callum McCullough, Alex McQueen, Pierce MacKinlay-West, Mak Kwai-chung, Alessandro Nardoni, Harry Sayers, Hugo Stiles.
Women’s squad: Natasha Olson-Thorne (co-capt), Melody Li Nim-yan (co-capt), Maggie Au Yeung Sin-Yi, Micayla Baltazar, Chloe Chan, Stephanie Chan Chor-ki, Chong Ka-yan, Shanna Forrest, Jessica Ho Wai-on, Nam Ka-man, Gabriella Rivers, Georgia Rivers, Sabay Lynam.
