Hong Kong men power into semis and declare ‘we are ready’
Like the finest sword that is forged in the hottest fire, Hong Kong are honed and ready as they prepare for the final thrust to win Asian Games gold in the men’s rugby sevens competition on Thursday.
Like the finest sword that is forged in the hottest fire, Hong Kong are honed and ready as they prepare for the final thrust to win Asian Games gold in the men’s rugby sevens competition on Thursday.
Hong Kong face South Korea in the semi-finals and the furnace at the Namdong Asiad Rugby Field stadium won’t get any hotter than coming up against the host nation in front of their partisan crowd.
Get past that and Japan, who play Sri Lanka in the other semi-final, will be their likely opponents in the final.
The mood in the camp is good and we are ready. Just two games away from the gold
Hong Kong skipper Jamie Hood and his team are fired up.
“The mood in the camp is good and we are ready. Just two games away from the gold,” said ebullient winger Tom McQueen summing up the feelings of his teammates as they stand on the verge of history.
Heading up the other side of the draw are defending Asian Games champions Japan. Recalled Brave Blossoms captain Michael Leitch already has his eye on the final and on Wednesday he revealed how his side were expecting to meet Hong Kong.
“We haven’t won this season [against Hong Kong] and hopefully it will be a different story tomorrow [Thursday]. But to beat HK is going to be very difficult,” Leitch said.
“But we are keen to defend our title. Last time [in the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad] we played with six men on the field in the final and beat Hong Kong. That spirit is still around,” he added.
The fire will certainly get hotter for the Hong Kong men’s side on Thursday, but it hasn’t been easy at all over the opening two days of the competition. The luck-of-the-draw – teams being reseeded after the preliminary pool rounds – saw Hong Kong meet their physical pool opponents from the Philippines again in the quarterfinals, and it was a bruising encounter which Hong Kong won 21-0.
“We are there to be shot at. Everyone has picked up their intensity against us and are coming hard at us, and that is a mark of respect for us,” said Hong Kong head coach Gareth Baber.
“But we are battle-hardened and pleased to be in the semi-finals.”
Hong Kong had begun the day with a hard-fought 19-5 victory over China in their final pool game. A brace by Tom McQueen and a try from Michael Coverdale were enough to ward off the team from north of the border, before the Philippines got a chance to get some payback.
Although the three-try scoreline looked comfortable, it was anything but as the Volcanoes threw everything they had at Hong Kong. Tom McQueen proved there is no better finisher in the team adding another brace, with brother Alex also touching down.
But it was the superb defence that won Hong Kong the day with skipper Hood leading the way with some fine cover tackling, while Jack Capon and Max Woodward also made their presence felt.
Hong Kong entered the Asian Games having won both opening legs of the Asian Sevens Series, defeating South Korea in the first and Japan in the second, but until now they haven’t faced both teams in the same tournament.
To win the gold medal, they will now likely have to beat both teams in consecutive matches for the first time this season.
Baber was philosophical of the path Hong Kong have had to tread. “It has been a hard draw. Sometimes you get the luck of the draw, but if we need to win this tournament, and if we have to do it the hard way, then we will need to beat everyone in the tournament at some point,” he said.
