Womens Rugby World Cup Match Day Two Preview

The action continues at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 on Sunday with teams eager to build on opening day wins or bounce back and get the victories to keep themselves in the hunt for semi-final places given that only the three pool winners are guaranteed to keep their title hopes alive.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 kicked off with more tries and points scored on opening day than ever before as England, New Zealand, Canada, USA, France and hosts Ireland all tasted victory.

The tournament is capturing the imagination of fans in Ireland and around the world with fans from 196 countries and territories visiting the official website, rwcwomens.com an increase of 550 per cent on WRWC 2014.

Sunday’s action gets underway at 12:00 local time (GMT+1) with the Pool A encounter between New Zealand and Hong Kong at Billings Park here’s a preview of that match and the rest of the day 2 action.

 

Pool A: New Zealand v Hong Kong

New Zealand captain Fiao’o Faamausili will draw level with Anna Richards and Emma Jensen as her country’s most-capped player when she wears the jersey for the 49th time against Hong Kong.

The hooker is one of only five players retained from the 44-12 win over Wales as coach Glenn Moore looks to keep his squad fresh ahead of the challenges to come. Half-backs Kendra Cocksedge and Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali continue their partnership with sevens stars Sarah Goss and Portia Woodman (pictured)  the others, although Goss moves across the back-row.

“The four-day match turnaround puts a lot of pressure on players and we want to ensure they are in the best possible shape for the entire tournament,” explained Moore.

“This is an important game for us. There were certain things we were really pleased about in our match against Wales, but there were also a couple of areas we were disappointed in. We need to improve on those and further build in the areas we did well in. Everyone is looking forward to getting out there again and doing New Zealand proud.”

Hong Kong coach Jo Hull expects New Zealand to be “at another level” and “tougher” than a Canadian side that beat her charges 98-0 on day one, so she knows that their tackling must approve to ensure they don’t give the Black Ferns the space and chance to build momentum.

Only four players will back-up from that opening loss, including captain Chow Mei Nam and centre Natasha Olson-Thorne, with veteran forwards Royce Chan and Christine Gordon coming in along with promising teenager centre Kelsie Bouttle.

“We’re feeling positive and excited to play New Zealand. We’ve had two tests against non-Asian opponents in our history and now we’re playing the second and third ranked teams in the world within the space of a week. For the 23rd ranked team in the world it’s a huge honour and a real positive for us,” insisted Hull.

“There’s a lot of pride in the locker room over our spirited performance against Canada, but we aren’t satisfied with how we played. We take heart from our performance, but we know we still have a lot to improve on. Mentally we’re in a good place. We’re not okay with losing 98-0 and personal accountability in our performance is hugely important and has to improve. That’s the challenge for us over the next few days.

“Some real positives are emerging. We showed warrior toughness against Canada, but it’s not good enough to leave it at that. We have to back that up now. We need a better performance than last week and against another world-class team.”

Pool A: Canada v Wales

Canada, unlike their main Pool A rivals New Zealand, have elected to retain virtually the same starting line-up from the record 98-0 defeat of Hong Kong for this meeting with Wales, the only change sees try-scorer Elissa Alarie move from full-back to the left wing with Julianne Zussman filling the vacated 15 jersey. The player to drop out of the squad is Frédérique Rajotte.

The Welsh match will bring up a personal milestone for captain Kelly Russell as she becomes the third Canadian to reach 50 test caps, following in the footsteps of two legends of Canadian rugby in Gillian Florence – a veteran of five World Cups – and Maria Gallo, who presented the team with their jerseys ahead of the Hong Kong match.

“It was a good start. I think the score reflected that we played as a team and we had a great flow,” admitted Magali Harvey, Canada’s five-try scorer against Hong Kong. “That was our first game and every game from now on are going to get harder. It was very exciting to see that we were able to keep going for 80 minutes, that said we are also aware that we are in a tough pool. We just want to put all the odds on our side, so the more points we score the better it is for us and the harder it is for teams to catch up to us.

“I think Wales will be more of a technical team (than Hong Kong) and a bigger team too so it is going to be more of a physical game and we have to bring it to them so they know we are not messing around either.”

Wales coach Rowland Phillips, meanwhile, has made two changes from the side beaten 44-12 by New Zealand on the same Billings Park pitch with Sian Moore given the nod at scrum-half this time and Jess Kavanagh-Williams named on the wing for her first taste of World Cup action. Replacement hooker Morfudd Ifans is in line to make her debut, while experienced back-row Shona Powell-Hughes takes her place on the bench after recovering from injury suffered in a warm-up match.

“We’ll be looking to cut out the unforced errors against Canada, who are a well-organised, strong and very athletic side,” said Phillips. “We’ve spoken a lot about taking positives out of the game against New Zealand, and that’s something we’ve been working on in the build-up to tomorrow’s match.

“We’re lucky as coaches to be overseeing a highly motivated group of players. Almost as soon as we came off the pitch on Wednesday, we started looking at what we needed to do to challenge what is clearly a very good Canada side. That preparation – which has included a lot of hard work on the training pitch – means we’ll take to the field full of confidence tomorrow.”

Pool B: England v Italy

England coach Simon Middleton had always planned to ring the changes and give everyone a run-out across the opening match days and so only five players are retained from the 56-5 win over Spain for the defending champions’ second meeting with Italy this year.

The Red Roses were pushed hard by a determined Italy in the Six Nations with Amy Wilson-Hardy among their try-scorers that February day and the winger comes in for her World Cup debut in place of Kay Wilson, who takes a well-earned rest after her four-try haul against Spain.

Danielle Waterman and Rachael Burford keep their places in the backline and are joined in the starting line-up by England’s two other players in their fourth tournament in prop Rochelle Clark and second-row Tamara Taylor. Emily Scarratt assumes the captaincy with Sarah Hunter starting on the bench against the Azzurre.

“We have options available to us in terms of selection and running different combinations. We want to take full advantage of the depth, talent and experience in the squad. Our aim is to continually build and improve on performance, the team have recovered well and have been working hard over the past two days to ensure we are fully prepared for the next challenge,” said Middleton.

“We are expecting a tough and physical encounter. Italy have caused us plenty of problems in the past and are an incredibly talented side.”

Italy coach Andrea Di Giandomenico has largely kept his backline intact with the talented Beatrice Rigoni’s selection at inside-centre in place of Sofia Stefan the only change. He has, though, rung the changes in his forward pack, one of which was enforced after hooker Lucia Cammarano suffered a double leg fracture during their 24-12 loss to 1991 champions USA on day one.

Melissa Bettoni moves from tight-head to hooker to replace her in a new look front-row with Marta Ferrari and Lucia Gai, while Valeria Fedrighi comes into the second-row for her first start and Ilaria Arrighetti takes her place in a re-jigged back-row.

Captain Sara Barattin and Manuela Furlan were among Italy’s try scorers in that Six Nations meeting and will be eager for the Azzurre to give the defending champions plenty of food for thought in this meeting as they look to bounce back from that day one loss.

“Facing England is always challenging,” admitted Barattin. “They made a great start in the first game against Spain and are here to defend the title. In the last two matches against them in the Six Nations, we played well and put them in trouble. We will give 100 per cent to follow our game plan.”

Pool B: USA v Spain

USA coach Pete Steinberg is very aware of the threat Spain pose with many of their players switching between sevens and 15s on a regular basis and knows his players must put them under pressure defensively if they are to continue their perfect record against Las Leonas, having won both previous World Cup meetings, 28-16 in 1998 and 23-5 four years later.

“One of the things I feel like we can be really good at is line speed,” explained Steinberg. “Spain loves to move the ball, so we really need to put them under some defensive pressure. Line speed and really getting after the contest at the tackle area will be the big things on defence.”

“Our structure wasn’t quite right (against Italy), so we weren’t able to source the rucks when it got wide the way we wanted to. We’ll have to make sure our structure is right, but we’re pretty happy with where we are.”

Steinberg has made only three changes to his starting line-up, Sam Pankey coming in at hooker and Abby Gustaitis, a try-scorer against Italy, getting the nod in the second-row. The other change comes at inside-centre where USA Sevens captain Alev Kelter is rewarded for her performance off the bench with a place alongside Nicole Heavirland in a backline with a strong sevens flavour.

His Spain counterpart Jose Antonio Barrio has also freshened up his squad with a number of changes, some of them positional for this meeting between the sides ranked seventh and eighth in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings.

Isabel Rico and Rocio Garcia bring plenty of experience into the forward pack, while Uribarri Barrutieta and Vanesa Rial come in for their first WRWC 2017 start in the backline.

Pool C: Ireland v Japan

The two teams will know what to expect from each other having played two trial matches at UCD back in June with Ireland coming away with narrow 24-22 and 24-15 victories over a side that has since been crowned Asian champions once again.

Ireland will know they must win by a more comfortable margin to bolster their semi-final hopes, having been the only one of the six victorious teams on day one not to collect a bonus point following a narrow 19-17 win over Australia.

Two of the try-scorers in that match, Sophie Spence and Ciara Griffin, come into the starting line-up for this match among a number of changes up front, while Nicole Cronin will make her test debut, partnering the experienced Nora Stapleton at half-back. Hannah Tyrrell switches to the wing to make way for Mairead Coyne at full-back, while Katie Fitzhenry will line-up alongside Sene Naoupu in the centres.

“We had a really tough encounter with Australia on Sunday evening in the opening game, and while we came away with the win, there a number of areas that we’ve focused on over the past two days that we will need to improve on for tomorrow’s test with Japan,” admitted Tierney.

“We know that the Japanese are going to throw everything at us tomorrow evening. They’re very fit, they like to move the ball wide and they are very quick to the breakdown.

“We’ve made a number of changes to the side from the Australia game with a view to giving some players a rest from what was a very physical game, but we also want to give the other members of the squad the opportunity to show what they can do against a fast and agile Japanese team.”

Japan, meanwhile, have been dealt a huge blow with the loss of their talisman number eight Mateitoga Bogidraumainadave (pictured), who fractured her leg in the loss to France on Wednesday and has been replaced in the tournament squad by hooker Chihiro Kobayashi.

This tournament-ending injury and the three-match suspension for centre Makiko Tomita following her red card in that defeat are the only changes coach Goshi Arimizu has made to his starting line-up for this meeting with hosts Ireland.

Maki Takano is given the unenviable task of replacing Bogidraumainadave at number eight, with Riho Kurogi coming in for Tomita at inside-centre.

Pool C: France v Australia

Fresh from a 72-14 win over Japan on day one, France coach Samuel Cherouk has rung the changes for their meeting with Australia, a side ranked two places below them in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings coming into the tournament.

With Gaëlle Mignot dropping down to the bench, centre Elodie Poublan takes over as captain for what will be her 67th test outing for Les Bleues and will have Carla Neisen as her centre partner with hat-trick scorer Caroline Ladagnous named as a replacement.

Flanker Romane Menager, who impressed with two long-range run-ins against Japan, continues in the back-row with Safi N’Diaye and Marjorie Mayans, who comes into the starting line-up. Two others retaining their place are half-backs Yanna Rivoalen and Caroline Drouin.

Australia coach Paul Verrell, though, is eager to build combinations and has therefore kept his changes to just one in his starting line-up, Sarah Riordan coming in to partner Olympic gold medallist Sharni Williams in the centres with Kayla Sauvao dropping to the bench.

“Our forwards competed well against an experienced Irish pack and they’ll face a similar challenge this Sunday against the French,” said Verrell.

“Our backline showed they can be very dangerous with the ball in hand, but we need them to continue to build as we lead into the match against the French. The addition of Sarah Riordan will provide us with another strong ball running option in the midfield.

“The team proved to themselves what they’re capable of in that match against the Irish and now we need them to continue to perform at that level, whilst also looking to grow and develop as a collective unit.”

Photos: RWC2017, Bryan Keane, World Rugby

Hong Kong v New Zealand Team News

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As Hong Kong prepare to stare down the Haka challenge, coach Jo Hull has made several changes to the squad for the match against New Zealand who are ranked second in the World. Royce Chan Leong-sze starts at hooker and Christine Gordon at no.8 in an effort to prevent the Black Ferns from establishing too much momentum in the forwards.

Changes in the backline see ‘BB’ Lee Tsz-ting start at fly-half with Kelsie Bouttle getting her first start at centre and Lau Sze-wa coming in at full-back. The changes are a part of Hull’s strategy to manage the load of the Rugby World Cup.

“We have four games just as hard as Canada, so the selection reflects the need to use all of the squad to manage that. Part of it is managing the player requirement, but also getting selection right for New Zealand,” said Hull.

“We’ve gone with the team that we think gives us the best chance to halt their momentum. Defensively, we have some strong players on the pitch and are asking our stalwarts to get amongst them. At the same time, we’ve gone with BB [Lee Tsz-ting] at 10 because she gives us a nice attacking option. If we have ball in hand we want to play some attractive rugby,” added Hull.

Hong Kong will have to dig deep to fend off a New Zealand team that although slow out of the blocks easily defeated Wales 44-12 win.

“Our tackling must improve. We have got to get them to ground quickly and stop them from building any momentum. We gave Canada too much time with the ball. You can only hold out so long defensively if you are letting your opponents generate all of the momentum.”

“Canada had big, world-class athletes and you can’t give them space with the ball. It will be more of the same against New Zealand and I actually expect them to be tougher than Canada. They will have found their stride after that first game against Wales.”

“New Zealand are a seasoned side, so I’m expecting them to be at another level. They are more clinical than Canada. We forced 11 errors against Canada. New Zealand won’t allow that,” said Hull.

Hull’s side are aware of the challenge but eager to front up again on the world stage. “We’re feeling positive and excited to play New Zealand. We’ve had two tests against non-Asian opponents in our history and now we’re playing the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams in the world within the space of a week. For the 23rd ranked team in the world it’s a huge honour and a real positive for us.”

“There’s a lot of pride in the locker room over our spirited performance against Canada, but we aren’t satisfied with how we played. We take heart from our performance, but we know we still have a lot to improve on.”

“Mentally we’re in a good place. We’re not okay with losing 98-0 and personal accountability in our performance is hugely important and has to improve. That’s the challenge for us over the next few days.”

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Hull said her team is thrilled by the experience of being at the World Cup and has been buoyed by strong support from a large contingent of travelling fans as well as the neutrals inside the stadium.

“It’s been incredible. The team has been touched by the support we’ve received. Support from the crowd really lifted our performance against Canada. Even at 70 minutes, we were attacking, lifted by the crowd, through what was a rough 80 minutes. We need that to continue over the coming days.”

“Some real positives are emerging. We showed warrior toughness against Canada, but it’s not good enough to leave it at that. We have to back that up now. We need a better performance than last week and against another world-class team,” Hull added.

Hong Kong Squad versus New Zealand:

Forwards: 1. LAU Nga-wun, Tammy; 2. CHAN Leong-sze, Royce; 3 WONG Yuen-shan; 4. CHOW Mei-nam (captain); 5. TSANG Sin-yan; 6. Amelie SEURE; 7. Winnie SIU; 8. Christine GORDON. Backs: 9. Jessica HO Wai-on; 10. LEE Tsz-ting 11. CHONG Ka-yan; 12. Kelsie BOUTTLE; 13. Natasha OLSON-THORNE; 14. Laurel CHOR Lik-fung; 15. LAU Sze-wah.Reserves: 16. HO Hoi-lam; 17. LEE Ka-shun; 18. PUN Wai-yan; 19. CHENG Ka-chi, Christy; 20. CHAN Ka-yan; 21. Lindsay VARTY; 22. Rose HOPEWELL-FONG Siu-lan; 23. Colleen TJOSVOLD

Additional reporting and images: HK Rugby

And They’re Off…

Hong Kong’s women rugby players depart for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland. The tournament runs from the 9-24 August with the pool matches played in Dublin, while the knockout games and final are in Belfast.

Coach Jo Hull’s side under Captain Chow Mei-nam will make their Pool A debut against Canada (9 Aug), before taking on the New Zealand All Blacks (13 Aug) and Wales (17 Aug).

Winger Aggie Poon posts a team selfie from the airport.

bc magazine will have full coverage of the tournament

Hong Kong Squad for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017:

Forwards: CHOW Mei-nam (captain); CHAN Ka-yan; CHAN Leong-sze, Royce; CHAN Tsz-ching, Agnes; CHENG Ka-chi, Christy; CHEUNG Shuk-Han, Jasmine; Christine GORDON; LAU Nga-wun, Tammy; LEE Ka-shun; PUN Wai-yan; Amelie SEURE; SIU Wing-ni, Winnie; SO Hoi-ting, Karen; TSANG Sin-yan; WONG Yuen-shan.

Backs: Adrienne GARVEY (vice captain); CHONG Ka-yan; CHOR Lik-fung, Laurel; Kelsie BOUTTLE; HO Wai-on, Jessica; Rose HOPEWELL-FONG Siu-lan; LAU Sze-wa; LEE Tsz-ting; MAK Ho-yee, Chloe; Natasha OLSON-THORNE; POON Pak-yan, Aggie; Colleen TJOSVOLD; Lindsay VARTY.

Photos: copyright their respective owners

 

Modern Heroines Set For World Cup Challenge

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The 9th December 2016 will live long in local rugby history, on a sensational night at King’s Park Hong Kong’s women rugby players beat Fiji 45-7 to effectively secure a place at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Today after seven grueling months of training the 28, mostly amateur players, who will make that trip to Ireland to compete in the World Cup next month were announced.

The Hong Kong squad will depart on 4 August – head to airport to cheer them off – for Dublin, where they will play 2013 runners-up Canada (7 August), four-time champions New Zealand (13 August) and Wales (17 August), before heading to Belfast for the semi-finals, final and the placing matches.

“We are going to use every woman in the squad in Ireland, and that is a key to our larger goal and mission: to ensure that our first World Cup appearance isn’t our last,” said national coach Jo Hull.

“Qualification for the World Cup is a good start, but our objectives transcend wins and losses,” continued Hull “We also want to change the perception of the women’s game in Hong Kong and to show how tough you have to be, how dedicated and how resilient you have to be – rather than giving in or walking away when it gets tough.”

The squad features a healthy mix of experience and potential, as Hull looks to leverage the Rugby World Cup as a transformative event for the women’s game locally – where it’s been under-funded and often viewed by the male dominated HKRU hierarchy as an irrelevance.

“We have gone with our experience and some of our more physical players that can withstand the challenge of a World Cup, but we are really excited to see the number of young players who have raised their hands during the campaign,” Hull added, singling out emerging players like scrumhalf Chloe Mak, flyhalf Lee Tsz-ting, flanker Agnes Chan and 18-year old centre Kelsie Bouttle.

“These players have really come into their own and are improving every game. We have rewarded that potential and it is a fantastic opportunity for them to shine,” said Hull.

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Lock Chow Mei-nam captain’s the squad and the 29-year old physical education teacher is relishing the opportunity ahead for both herself and her side.

“My ambition is to be a world-class lock and the World Cup will provide a stage for me to try and achieve that. By the end of the tournament, I want the other teams to know about Hong Kong Rugby and respect us. That’s my main goal, earning that respect on the pitch.” Chow vowed.

Chow is joined by a core of experienced campaigners, particularly in the forwards, where former captain Royce Chan selection offers her a fitting highlight for Chan’s 13 years of endeavour in support of the women’s game.

Amelie Seure, Christy Cheng Ka-chi and Christine Gordon offer experience in the pack, alongside relative newcomers in flanker Agnes Chan and lock Chan Ka-yan.

“We have gone with some players that we know can get us out of trouble in a game,” confirmed Hull. “For a World Cup you need that balance, you have to have a team. It isn’t just about the players, the combinations have to work, on and off the pitch, to carry the team through those three weeks.”

“We have also given opportunities to some X-factor players. If they get things right, players like Agnes [Chan], Kelsie [Bouttle] and Rosie [Rose Hopewell-Fong] can help us break down defences. These players also help us have a multi-functional squad, with players that are comfortable playing in more than one position.”

“We are confident that we have that strength in depth we are going to need to take on three world-class teams in the space of two weeks,” Hull concluded.

The backline is anchored by vice captain and centre Adrienne Garvey, as well as experienced fly-half/fullback Rose Hopewell-Fong and sevens squad members Natasha Olson-Thorne (centre/wing), Aggie Poon Pak-yan and Colleen Tjosvold in the back three.

The emerging players among the backs are young scrumhalves 22-year old Chloe Mak, Ho-yee and 25-year old Jessica Ho Wai-on, while Lindsay Varty adds experience at the pivot. 21-year old ‘BB’ Lee Tsz-ting has been included at fly-half and will hope to add to her eight caps.

The youngest player in the squad is 18-year old centre Kelsie Bouttle who impressed in her first season of Premiership rugby and won her first cap last month.

“It’s been an eye opener for me to be involved and a great motivator to develop my rugby. The World Cup will be an incredible experience,” said Bouttle. “It’s good to be included because I am still young and hopefully have a long way to go in my rugby, so I will be in a position to share that experience and transfer my knowledge to other young players.”

While several of the squad are full-time athletes from the HKRU sevens programme at the HK Sports Institute, the majority are amateurs, who have put it massive amounts of time throughout the campaign to train.

“These are not professional players, but they train professionally,” said Hull. “They are doctors, teachers, social workers and students, and they deserve praise and respect for the commitment they have shown.”

This is Hull’s third World Cup “The opportunity to bring my own squad to the World Cup is a tremendous honour, especially with this group of players. I feel a lot of responsibility because of it.

“I’m looking forward to that buzz and excitement that surrounds a World Cup. I know from my own experience that this will be the most amazing three weeks of their sporting lives and to be able to lead them through that is a privilege,” said Hull.

HKRU Squad for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017:

Forwards: CHOW Mei-nam (captain); CHAN Ka-yan; CHAN Leong-sze, Royce; CHAN Tsz-ching, Agnes; CHENG Ka-chi, Christy; CHEUNG Shuk-Han, Jasmine; Christine GORDON; LAU Nga-wun, Tammy; LEE Ka-shun; PUN Wai-yan; Amelie SEURE; SIU Wing-ni, Winnie; SO Hoi-ting, Karen; TSANG Sin-yan; WONG Yuen-shan.

Backs: Adrienne GARVEY (vice captain); CHONG Ka-yan; CHOR Lik-fung, Laurel; Kelsie BOUTTLE; HO Wai-on, Jessica; Rose HOPEWELL-FONG Siu-lan; LAU Sze-wa; LEE Tsz-ting; MAK Ho-yee, Chloe; Natasha OLSON-THORNE; POON Pak-yan, Aggie; Colleen TJOSVOLD; Lindsay VARTY.

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Additional reporting and images: HKRugby

Sevens Ticket Prices Increase

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After last year forcing children to pay adult prices for their tickets. Those prices have gone up as the Hong Kong Rugby Union announced that tickets will increased by $50/day, approximately 8%.

Not that the general public can buy them anymore, but from 2018 a three-day ticket – except HK rugby are not calling them tickets anymore they’ve been rebranded as “event packages” – costs $1950, up from $1,800 in 2017.

There’s so much guff verbiage and faux justifications within the HKRU release announcing the price increase that you’d swear they’ve been taking lessons from Trump.

The guff includes that fans at the stadium have to pay more so that other people can watch the Sevens for free “HKRU is also expending significant funds to share the excitement of the Sevens with the wider community, with its free admission fan zones in Chater Garden and Lee Gardens”.

I wonder what the sponsors and suppliers who paid HKRU massive sums to have their brands linked to the Sevens and have a presence at those two locations think about that fiction.

The HKRU claims the Sevens are “still excellent value” but there was a lot less actual rugby played at the 2017 Sevens than in years past – so fans of rugby are being shafted twice… paying more for a lot less.

Robbie McRobbie, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Rugby Union states that “We have an obligation to generate as much revenue as possible from the tournament to support the growth of the game in Hong Kong.”

This from an organisation that is quite probably the richest rugby union in the world and has according to a recent annual return assets of well over $250 million.

The Sevens will still sell out because it’s a unique event and can trade on it’s name and reputation for years to come, but the atmosphere at recent events is not what it used to be and the fans disquiet and sense of being milked increases every year.

What the HKRU and World Rugby fail to understand is that fans do go to watch the rugby. The non-stop run of games throughout the day keeps fan energy high. Now with big gaps in the rugby, the atmosphere and energy sags. We don’t need bands with awful sound systems playing 5 songs. The energy from the rugby drives the Sevens fan experience which powers the rugby… More rugby, more women’s rugby and less of the insipid distractions.

Hong Kong Sevens
Date: 6-8 April 2018
Venue: Hong Kong Stadium
Tickets: $1,950.

Japan Retain Asian Crown With 60-19 Victory

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Japan retained the Asia Women’s Rugby Championship title easily beating Hong Kong 60-19 at Kings Park to complete a two game sweep. The home side made too many individual errors and gifted points to the Sakura with missed tackles galore.

Hong Kong coach Jo Hull tried hard to put a positive spin on her side’s last competitive match before the Women’s World Cup in Dublin next month. “It was another disappointing result, and obviously we aren’t happy with that, but there was some positives compared to last week’s loss in Japan,” said Hull.

“Our defence was good for parts of the game, as was our commitment and physicality in the contact area. Our performance at the breakdown was good and I think we improved in the set piece and were carrying the ball a bit better than last week.”

“At times we were building good momentum in our attack, but there were some real individual errors that cost us quite dearly. We are disappointed, but at the same time we needed that game,because the next time we play it will be against Canada at the World Cup,” added Hull.

Japan centre Riho Kurogi opened the scoring, converting her own try as visitor’s size and speed came to the fore. Further tries to fullback Ai Tasaka, second rower Aoi Mimura and Captain Seina Saito pushed the score out to 24-0 after 30 minutes.

One-on-one tackling is still a massive problem area for Hong Kong with players outright missing tackles or just not being strong enough in the tackle to bring the player down. There was an improvement on last week at the breakdown, but this was largely achieved by having more players in and around the breakdown – which left space out wide which Japan consistently exploited.

The home team struggled to gel on attack in the opening stages with the interchange between scrumhalf Ho Mak-yee and fly-half Rose Hopewell-Fong an issue early on. Consistently though Hong Kong contrived to put themselves under pressure. All too often with the ball around the half-way line and the backs angled deep. The passing was slow, to players who were static and within seconds from looking to be on the attack the ball was back inside the HK twenty-two and having to be kicked away…

Captain Chow Mei-nam put Hong Kong on the board in the 30th minute, finishing off a solid patch of play by crashing over the line from second phase ball, after Hong Kong won an attacking line-out on Japan’s five-metres. Winger Aggie Poon Pak-yan added a difficult conversion from along the right touchline, 24-7.

But Hong Kong failed to push on from their score, defending poorly to allow Japan to add another try shortly before half-time, 31-7.

In the second half, scrumhalf Sham Wai-sum came on to good effect, helping to inject some fluidity into the attack. Winger Chong Ka-yan capped that early momentum by opening up the Japanese defence in the 42nd minute to score the host’s second try which Hopewell-Fong’s converted, 31-14.

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Tries to Takano and winger Honoka Tsutsumi pushed the score along to 43-14, effectively ending the contest. Although Maki Takano’s 56th minute yellow card for repeated infringement allowed the veteran Sham to exploit the extra space as she darted over for a try in the right corner in the 58th minute. Poon missed the touchline conversion, leaving Hong Kong trailing 38-19.

Japan confirmed their superiority with tries to Sachiko Kato, Yumeno Noda and Yuki Oyokawa in the final 20 minutes to secure a comfortable victory 60-19, and claim a second straight Asian title.

The loss left Hull with much to think about ahead of next month’s World Cup. “Full credit to Japan, they played very well and are coming along nicely. They are always clinical but today they were very accurate and played at good pace. I think they will do well at the World Cup,and we hope they do, as we are all representing Asia at the end of the day.”

“For us, we have a good idea of our squad selection for the World Cup and today and last week was about getting those players some game time.”

Hull singled out two up and coming young players in 21-year old flanker Agnes Chan Tsz-ching and 18-year old centre Kelsie Bouttle. “Agnes played well, as did Kelsie. That was the second cap for both of them and I think we have a couple of exciting young players coming through there,” said Hull.

“We’ve identified what is working well and what isn’t, and we aren’t going to change what we are doing. We will keep emphasizing the things that are important to us. We’ve been working hard on our game and our fitness and now we need to start transferring that to actual matches.”

“Over the next few weeks, we just need to try and improve in those little areas that are holding us back. We just need to keep believing in ourselves and keep working on what we can control,” said Hull.

Hong Kong are pooled with Canada, runners-up at the last World Cup, as well as four-time champions New Zealand and Wales in the Women’s Rugby Cup which starts in Dublin, Ireland on the 9 August, 2017.

Additional reporting and images: HKRugby

Hong Kong Search for Self Respect

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After last week’s comprehensive 58-0 defeat in Japan, coach Jo Hull has named an experienced starting XV for the home leg of the Asia Rugby Championship against Japan at King’s Park.

“This is a crucial hit-out absolutely,” said Hull. “This is our last international before the World Cup and whether we win or lose, we want to perform the way we know we can. Last week was about getting players game time and looking at some new combinations, but this week we have gone with an experienced squad.”

“It is an experienced group, but it is also a performance group; a lot of these senior players have been performing to standards throughout the build-up, not just in games but in training. It will be good to have players like Christy [flanker Cheng Ka-chi] and Natasha [centre Natasha Olson-Thorne] back.”

Hull expects to need every bit of that experience with Japan, coming off a big win last week, likely to further bolster their squad with their own senior players.

“They will bring back some of their key players, as well. They have their own objectives building up to the World Cup and will come out even harder than last week,” Hull added. “We are prepared for that.”

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“It has been a massive re-focus week this week for us, and I’m proud of the level of accountability in the camp. We have worked a lot on eliminating the high number of individual errors from last week, even amongst the senior players; that has been a focus area, as well as the set piece.”

“We’ve had a good week of training and have been replicating a World Cup week where we will be looking to back up again for another big performance like we have to do in Ireland. But all of that doesn’t count for anything, it’s about putting it out on the pitch and the players are aware of that.”

“If they get their individual and team jobs right, we could have a special performance and that is our focus. If we get those things right, the results will follow,” Hull said.

Captain Chow Mei-nam leads an experienced group of forwards with the front row anchored by props Wong Yuen-shan and Lee Ka-shun with Karen So at hooker. Chow will assume her normal second row spot, partnering with Amelie Seure, who moves into the tight five to create room for Christine Gordon at No.8. Gordon will pair with sevens captain Cheng and Chan Tsz-ching at flanker.

Mak Ho-yee gets a run at scrumhalf and will combine with Rose Hopewell-Fong, who came of the bench last week to good effect, at fly-half. “Ho-yee can inject a bit of pace into the game which is something we are after,” said Hull.

Out wide, an all-sevens line-up of backs will also be keen to perform. Vice captain Adrienne Garvey will pair with Natasha Olson-Thorne in the centre with Aggie Poon Pak-yan and Chong Ka-yan on the wings and Colleen Tjosvold at full-back.

The bench has experience and depth with Royce Chan Leong-sze, Cheung Shuk-han, Lau Nga-wun and Pun Wai-yan as the front row reserves. Scrumhalf Sham Wai-sum, Lee Tsz-ting and Ivy Kwong Sau-yan as backs reserves, alongside Kelsie Bouttle, who has earned a second appearance after making her debut last weekend.

“Kelsie didn’t get much of an opportunity last week, so we wanted to give her another run. She brings a different dynamic to the centres for us, which is what we are after,” Hull added.

The match against Japan will offer the selectors a final opportunity to examine their charges in a match environment before naming the final 28-strong squad a week from Saturday at Kings Park.

Hong Kong v Japan
Womens Asia Rugby Championship
Date: 6pm, 15 July, 2017
Venue: King’s Park
Tickets: Free

Additional reporting: HK Rugby

Japan Thrash Error Prone Hong Kong 58-0

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Hong Kong’s Asian Rugby Championship campaign got off to a disastrous and error prone start with a 58-0 loss to Japan in the first of the two-match series in Odarawa.

From the outset, the Sakura dominated the set piece and contact area in a clinical performance that caused real problems for Hong Kong coach Jo Hull’s squad. Japan jumped out to a 22-0 lead, and claimed the bonus point for scoring four tries, in the opening 25 minutes. The Sakura went on to score ten tries in total, five on either side of half time.

“It was a disappointing performance obviously, but fair play tothem, they came out hard and fast and dominated in all areas really,” said Hull.

“We played some okay rugby in parts and forced them into some mistakes defensively, but we let ourselves down, particularly at the contact area, and our set piece is underperforming at the moment,which is hurting us,” Hull added.

“We are bitterly disappointed, but no one is feeling sorry for themselves in that locker room. We know we had a bad day at the office. We need to learn from that and also put it behind us now,” said Hull.

“Collectively, we need to look inward, and ask ourselves what weare going to do as a team, as the entire squad including the girls at home, for next week. That is my challenge to the players the management, to everyone,” Hull said.

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For Hull, the side now has an important opportunity to test it’s mettle for the last time in a match environment ahead of the world cup next month.

“We have seven days before our next test, so we need to review and get back to work on what we need to get right. That will be a good preparation for us for the World Cup, where we are going to have to be able to contest back-to-back tough matches,” added Hull.

“We are a month out from our biggest ever challenge and the players are aware that today was an unacceptable performance when we are wearing the Hong Kong jersey, but it doesn’t change what we are doing, or our belief in ourselves, our training and what we are working on. This is another opportunity now for us to get better,” said Hull.

Hong Kong’s best passage of play came early in the second half after reverting to a forward-heavy pick and roll style, but lost out on their best opportunity to add points and gather some momentum after a knock-on on the try-line.

Other than that, it was heavy going for the visitors, but Hull did take some positives from the encounter: “We exposed more players to this level and tried out some new combinations. That ability to get players this experience is a massive plus for us. If we continue to play the same girls, we risk taking a very limited squad in terms of our experience to Ireland,” noted Hull.

“BB Lee [Tsz-ting] played well at fly-half today. Her kicking game was very good and she managed the ball well despite being under pressure,” Hull added.

Hull was also pleased to see the subs bench make an impact, including 18-year old Kelsie Bouttle who earned her first cap.

“She did well; it’s tough for an 18 year old to debut in that scenario: being away versus Japan and coming on with a big deficit, but she showed composure and had some good ball in hand moments.”

Hull also complimented Rose Hopewell-Fong who came on for the second half and contributed to the positive start after the break by pairing well with captain Adrienne Garvey in the centre, before dropping back to fullback as positional cover.

“Rosie did well in a tough spot after coming on at 12 but having to move back, I think she showed how she has matured as a player today.

“We’ll continue to make changes this week to expose more players and combinations. My challenge to the team is to come back and show how we are going to collectively regroup and move forward,” said Hull.

Hong Kong v Japan
Date: 6pm, 15 July, 2017
Venue: King’s Park
Tickets: Free

Additional reporting: HKRugby
Photos: Japan RugbyToru Ikegami