Singapore Sevens: Hong Kong aim to recover in Challenge Trophy after three losses in a tough opening day
- The invited team suffer losses against France, Argentina and Australia and face Wales in the quarter-finals of the second-tier competition
Hong Kong lost all of their pool matches on day one of the HSBC Singapore Sevens on Saturday. Hong Kong are the invited 16th team – hitting out with the 15 core teams on the international series for the first time this season – in Singapore.
Hong Kong dropped games to France, 26-7, Argentina, 31-5, and Australia, 47-0, to close the day, which means they are forced to take part in the second-tier Challenge Trophy quarter-finals on Sunday against Wales at the National Stadium.
It was a step in the wrong direction for disappointed Hong Kong coach Paul John.
“It’s been disappointing, I thought we did okay in the first game, despite the two yellow cards, we stretched France a bit and should have scored early on,” he said. “But we are very disappointed in our second game. We stood off Argentina a bit I thought. We had opportunities where we could have gone hard but we didn’t.
“We look a tired side in my eyes today, but every side here also played last week.”