Hong Kong lost its opening match of the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, losing 21-7 to Russia.
Debutant Liam Herbert scored in the dying minutes to put Hong Kong on the board late in the game, but the damage had been done in the first half after Russia ran out to a 21-0 lead before halftime after an early brace from Sergei Ianiushkin and a third try late in the half from German Davydov.
Hong Kong put in a much-improved performance in the second half but it was too little too late, and captain Ben Rimene rued his side’s slow start and lack of execution after the match.
“It was a slow start for us. They were up 21-0 at halftime and we had hardly touched the ball in the first half. When we did get the ball we gave it up too easily. With teams like Russia that play at this level all of the time, if you give them the ball they are going to score points and they did,” Rimene added.
The tournament’s knock out format means that Hong Kong will now be contesting the Bowl in San Francisco and will face off against Jamaica who were beaten 50-0 by France in their opening match.
“We are in the bottom half of the tournament now and we have to focus on Jamaica. Our objective now is to get into the top part of the draw come Sunday,” said Rimene.
Tonga will play Chile in the first Bowl quarter final, followed by an all-African affair between Zimbabwe and Uganda, while Papua New Guinea and Uruguay will contest the last Bowl quarter final.
“We need to tighten up our structures for tomorrow,” Rimene added. “We knew what we need to do out there, it was our execution more than anything else that was off.”
Despite being one of six players in the squad that competed in the Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification match against Cook Islands two weeks ago, Rimene didn’t chalk up his sides’ slow start to any off-season rustiness.
“We are professionals and we know what we need to do. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to go from fifteens to sevens, but it’s part of the job and we have to do it.”
Coach Paul John stressed that his team’s ultimate objectives from San Francisco were still valid; possibly even more so, given that Hong Kong may be competing against most of their fellow Bowl competitors in next seasons’ HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series qualifier tournament in Hong Kong.
“Our objective now is to win a few games and try to reach the higher end of the competition.
“We cross over with Jamaica now and they have a lot of good athletes, so we are still playing countries that we want to test ourselves against. Sevens is getting more and more difficult, so it is good to test ourselves against as many teams as possible, especially those we may meet in the World Series qualification tournament in Hong Kong next year,” John said.
Additional reporting and images: HKRU