HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series: Hong Kong’s men make winning start in Stellenbosch, but women struggle
- Wins over Papua New Guinea and Italy put Jevon Grove’s side in strong position after opening day in South Africa
- Hong Kong’s women blow healthy lead against Colombia before being overpowered by Poland
Hong Kong’s men made a strong start to their bid to win the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, beating Papua New Guinea and Italy in their opening games in the heavy rain in South Africa on Thursday.
But despite the unbeaten start to a tournament that Hong Kong must win to have any chance of reaching the world series, head coach Jevon Groves still wasn’t satisfied with his side’s overall performance.
A thumping 26-5 win over PNG was followed by a narrow 22-17 victory in the second game in Stellenbosch, that needed a sterling solo effort at the death from Alessandro Nardoni to decide in Hong Kong’s favour
“Obviously, we are pleased to get two wins today, but our performance was still not where wanted it to be today,” Groves said. “Conditions are pretty difficult with the rains and some really heavy footing, and I think it may come down to who can adapt best to those conditions tomorrow.
“We had some good starts and scored some nice tries with ball in hand, but I think we are all a bit disappointed in our defensive performance today. We probably lacked a bit of aggression. We know that we have it in us and we are definitely going to need that to be improved going into tomorrow.”
Hong Kong’s last game in Pool B is on Friday against Chile, who they beat in their last meeting at the Olympic repechage in 2021. The South Americans beat PNG 22-15 and Italy 17-12 on Thursday.
