Hong Kong Sevens: China earn dramatic sudden-death win to avoid ‘worst team’ tag
Defeat by USA in their final pool fixture leaves China on brink, before they rescue their tournament with triumph over Great Britain
China women’s dramatic sudden-death victory over Great Britain on Saturday saw them avoid the possibility of finishing as the tournament’s worst team at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
A 24-10 defeat by the United States in their final Pool C fixture earlier in the day had left them in danger of a last-place finish.
But they battled to outlast Britain and record their first win of the weekend, which means they will finish as high as ninth should they beat Spain on Sunday.
China led the match twice through Zhang Le tries, but Britain hit back each time with tries for Georgie Lingham and Emma Uren.
Grace Crompton then scored to put the British 19-14 up before Zhou Yan equalised in stoppage time. However, Gu Yaoyao sliced the conversion – which would have sealed a last-gasp victory in normal time – horribly and China had to win the hard way, eventually gaining their 24-19 golden-point victory when Wang Wanyu scored in the right corner.
“In the beginning, we were very anxious, it was not easy,” Wang said.