Hong Kong lift Asia 7s title

The Asian Sevens is the first of two Series events that will serve as the warm-up to a two-leg qualification series for the 2016 Olympic Games in November, though they are of course important tournaments in their own right.

After their strong showing in Dublin recenty, Japan were slight favourites going into the weekend and on day one the leading Asian sides had no problem qualifying for the Cup knockouts.

In the Cup Quarter Finals Hong Kong swept by Uzbekistan 31-0 to set up an encounter with favourites Japan, after they qualified recently for the World Series. Japan themselves had thrashed Singapore 50-0, while in the other quarters, Kazakhstan beat Sri Langa 40-5 while China beat Thailand 24-5.

Into the semis and Hong Kong struck first with a try to Candy Cheng Tsz Ting to take a 5-0 lead into the break. Despite back and forth action in the second half neither team could add to the scoreline as Hong Kong advanced to only its second cup final since 2011. China snuck a 22-17 win over the Kazakhs.

Despite going down 5-0 early on in the final, Hong Kong remained poised. Paced by flying winger Aggie Poon, Hong Kong jumped out to a 12-5 lead at the half.Poon’s final try to open the second half - and her outstanding conversion from the touch line - added to Hong Kong’s self-belief as they went ahead 19-5.  .

In the final China managed a quick reply to Poon’s score but forward Nam Ka Man earned just reward for some grafting play over the tournament to score Hong Kong’s fourth try and push the lead to 24-10. China added a consolation score but never threatened Hong Kong’s lead, giving the squad its first ever Asian sevens tournament title.

“The girls deserved to be in the final,” said Hong Kong coach and four-time Rugby World Cup winner Anna Richards. “I told them before the game if they played as they had all weekend then they would win. We didn’t need to pull a rabbit out of our hat or anything we just needed self-belief.”

It was Hong Kong’s fourth straight win over China this year and Richards is enjoying the run of results.

“China looked a little tired in the final and we were still scoring great tries. They went into extra time versus Kazakhstan in the semi so that had an effect but I also wonder if the fact that we beat them yesterday and in Dublin had anything to do with it; that has got to weigh on their minds a bit.”

For Richards, the win is the perfect build-up for the Olympic qualifiers in November when Asian qualification will send one men’s and one women’s team to the 2016 Games in Rio.

“Our girls believe they can win now. I’m not sure they had that before but now we do. We went down by a try to China early on but we stayed strong and China couldn’t do anything after that. We played well and we won well. Now we will go back and start preparing for the Sri Lanka Sevens in October and the Olympic qualifiers in November,” Richards added.

Meanwhile outside of the Cup competition Thailand beat Singapore to win the Plate.