bc magazine

Women’s Rugby Sevens Teams Announced

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Women’s rugby in Hong Kong has been going from strength to strength in recent years and this has been reflected in the national 15s and 7s team results; highlighted by the 7s team winning their first ever Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tournament in Qingdao last September.

So it’s more than a little disappointing that the male dominated hierarchy of the HKRU continue to remain so blind to the attractions of women’s rugby, especially in an Olympic year when Hong Kong are still in with a chance of a place in Rio. With women’s rugby 7s expanding fast globally that only ten teams, down from twelve in recent year’s, will take part in the 19th Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens (HKWRS) is depressing.

bc has supported the Women’s 7s since its inception and know that teams want to come to play, and the national side needs the experience of playing teams outside Asia, but cite costs as the main problem in attending the tournament. The HKRU is awash with cash but the men in charge remain too cheap to, and blind to the benefits of, financially supporting the expansion and improvement of the HKWRS. The nine countries, from four continents joining Hong Kong are: Argentina, China, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Tournament Director Ruth Mitchell and former Hong Kong captain said of the announcement “I’m excited at how the tournament has progressed over the years. Hong Kong is the longest established women’s sevens tournament in the world and we have had 38 international teams participate over the past 19 years. This year, for the first time, all of the teams have played in the tournament before, so we can expect a high standard of play and with plenty of Asian teams involved, the rivalry is sure to be intense,”

Of the participating teams, France, Kenya and Japan have already qualified for the Rio Summer Games in August, where rugby 7s will make it’s debut at the Olympics. France and Japan are also participating on the Women’s Sevens Series this season with France in fourth place in the standings and Japan eleventh of the 12 core teams. Both teams have figured in recent HKWRS Cup finals. Japan lost to Canada, 19-12, last year while France was beat by Canada, 24-0, in 2014.

Argentina, China, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong will compete in the Olympic repechage tournament in Dublin in June, making the HKWRS an important preparation event for the final stage of Olympic qualification. The winner in Dublin will be the 12th and final team to qualify for the Women’s Rugby Sevens competition at the Rio Games.

As always, Asia is well represented with the hosts Hong Kong, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Thailand all taking part. Japan and China finished first and second in Asia last season with Hong Kong hot on their heels in third place in the region.

Hong Kong Women’s Sevens coach Anna Richards commented on the field assembled saying, “There is a good range of teams this year with sides from Africa, Europe and South America, alongside the top teams from Asia. It’s always good to get a chance to play against teams with different styles then those we see in the region and it will be helpful for us as prepare for the Olympic qualifier in Ireland where there will be 16 teams from all over the world.”

Last year, Hong Kong, after beating beat Samoa in the quarterfinal, narrowly missed out on reaching their first cup final losing the semi 10-5 to Japan. Another close result went against the hosts when they lost the third place play-off to the Netherlands, 14-7. It was Hong Kong’s best ever performance in the HKWRS and set the stage for a strong run in the Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens series later in the year.

“We got on a roll last year with a great start on the opening day when we beat China and Kazakhstan. Those performances gave us the self-belief we needed to go out and compete both on day two and later in the year on the Asian series. We will need another fast start this year so a lot will be riding on what pool we are drawn in as we need to finish either first or second in our group to advance to the cup,” Richards said. The tournament draw for the HKWRS will be held alongside the Hong Kong Sevens draw on Monday, 14 March.

Complicating matters for Richards is a lack of warm-up events for the women’s team ahead of the HKWRS: “Last year we had two tournaments in the build up to the sevens, but this year we don’t have any. We’ve been training really hard and are working closely with the Sports Science team at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, but I know the girls are excited about the prospect of our first tournament action since November last year.”

Richards has had to get creative to accentuate the build-up campaign. The sevens training squad will play a series of training games against a touring side from Princeton University on March 16.

Richards, a former New Zealand international, has also negotiated with the New Zealand Rugby Union to organise a group of New Zealand Sevens development players who the HKRU are flying up to Hong Kong, where they will mix with top local players in a Barbarians format, for a two-day training camp at the Hong Kong Sports Institute on March 19 and 20.

The HKWRS tournament in on Thursday and Friday, (7-8 April) with the opening day’s action at Kings Park in Kowloon. Day Two will be held at the Hong Kong Football Club (8 April) with the final again being held beneath the lights at the HK Stadium as a main focus of the opening day of the Hong Kong Sevens.

Taste Festival FAIL!

For those thinking of attending Taste at the Central Harbourfront, then sadly I suggest you think again if you haven’t already bought a ticket. Especially if you’re imagining something like last year’s enjoyable and diverse Wine & Dine Festival.

At Taste there are just 12 restaurants: Aberdeen Street Social, Amber, Arcane (Sunday), Bibo, Café Gray Deluxe, Chino (Thursday & Friday), Duddell’s, Serge et Le Phoque, The Ocean, Tin Lung Heen, Tosca, Yardbird and Ronin and visiting UK restaurant Duck & Waffle (Saturday). The organisers IMG are hoping to attract 3,000 people per four hour session. If you are keen to try all 12 outlets then you’ll be hoping to get served every 20 minutes as will the other 250+ customers at each booth. Even the most efficient McDonalds in Hong Kong would be struggling to serve 750 people every hour for four hours straight; and they’re a restaurant specifically designed to serve fast food. The 12 outlets at Taste are restaurants used to serving 100 or so people in an evening, with care taken in the cooking and presentation of the food. And with rents for a booth at over $20,000, the dishes aren’t cheap ranging from $50 to $380 for mini-portions on a paper plate…

Each restaurant is offering 3 dishes and one signature dish, as the organisers IMG didn’t ask the participants to prepare any dishes for the media to taste it’s impossible for bc to comment on the individual offerings. On the opening night an outlet ran out of its signature dish within just over an hour having prepared less than 30 portions. Others ran out of their ‘main’ dishes before 8pm. One outlet spoke of preparing 300 of each main dish per session – so only 1 in 10 of IMG’s projected session visitors might be able to taste it…

Arrive early and expect to queue and queue… Even the Event Director Simon Wilson thinks you’ll only be able to taste dishes from 5 or 6 outlets per 4 hour session. Thursday was the first night, and the weather meant only a couple of hundred visitors yet there were long lines all around. Service at all the restaurants was friendly but disorganised with ordering and food arrival taking several minutes per customer. Late in any session I expect the food choices to be extremely limited if non-existent.

The place feels very sterile, there’s no area to sit and congregate and share food stories. There are no tables on the event ‘lawn’ (more like a squishy puddle in the rain) so the few standing only tables inside the booths were crammed and with staff working flat-out to serve food; clearing the tables of piling rubbish was an oft forgotten afterthought.

The restaurants are spaced around the exterior, while the ‘spine’ of Taste features various wine, craft beer and food produce outlets. Drinks are at bar prices and nothing that you can’t find easily around town. Although La Boucherie and Golden Pig are offering some tasty sausages while Eclair! has some interesting savoury eclairs and chocolates.

The lack of restaurant booths is Taste’s main problem. 20 or 30 outlets (there’s no shortage of ‘high end’ outlets locally) would have allowed diners to spend less time queueing and more time tasting – which after all is supposedly the idea behind the event.

This is not IMG’s first Taste event, they have organised many around the world, but Taste HK feels like a rort, designed to fleece it’s visitors of as many dollars as possible… Looking to cash in on the premium names and reputations of outlets with dishes that are expensive for what’s on offer. $280 for a lobster roll eaten standing in a puddle under an umbrella… Maybe it’s different overseas but here it’s definitely an event for those with money to burn. For the rest of us, save your money and go enjoy the dishes as the chef imagined you would eat them, sitting down with time to appreciate all their subtleties and complexities of flavour, texture and taste.

Disappointing Hong Kong Out With a Whimper

After a bright start Hong Kong’s middle order failed again as Afghanistan bossed their way to second successive win, this time by six wickets, to set up a knockout match against Zimbabwe to determine the Group B qualifier for the World Twenty20 Super 10s.

Hong Kong won the toss and, opting to bat, raced away to 40 without loss before losing the plot as four wickets fell in four overs – mostly to lose shots. Although Mark Chapman could do little about a superb yorker from Gulbadin Naib. Hong Kong needing to post a good score to stay in the tournament just couldn’t find the boundary rope and struggled to reach 116 for 6 – mainly thanks to Anshuman Rath’s unbeaten 31-ball 28. A total that was 40 short of what Tanwir Afzal, the captain, hoped to get.

Hong Kong’s slim chance was to pick-up early wickets, that that didn’t happen and the game was reduced to a cakewalk for Afghanistan who won with two overs to spare.

Ryan Campbell, who struggled on his Hong Kong debut two nights ago, opened with a ‘high-risk, high returns’ approach and muscled five early boundaries. But Nabi’s slow turn beat him as he attempted a sweep and the ball bounced back onto the stumps. Two balls later Babar Hayat’s disappointing tournament with the bat continued as he was deceived by the flight and chipped a simple catch to cover.

Rashid Khan, the skiddy legspinner made an impact immediately with his mix of googlies and sliders as Hong Kong’s batsmen suddenly started playing for demons that weren’t there. The slow bowlers scythed through the middle order, with the continuous loss of wickets making run-scoring difficult.

Amidst the carnage, Rath nudged his way along playing with soft hands, and using deft touches to push his team to 116 for 6. Nabi was the pick of the bowlers, his 4 for 20 the best figures by an Afghan bowler in T20Is.

Noor Ali Zadran’s straight boundary off the first ball of Afghanistan’s innings heralded the start of the end. With little swing or nip off the surface, the pacemen resorted to gentle off-cutters. Afzal then turned to spin in the hope of doing to Afghanistan what Nabi and Rashid Khan did to them. But the batsmen’s application thwarted their designs as Afghanistan scored 43 in the first six overs. Overconfidence got the better of Shahzad, who holed out to long-off for a 40-ball 41 to give Campbell his first T20 wicket. Nabi and Noor Ali then milked the bowling before an ungainly slog ended Nabi’s stay. Two balls later, Noor Ali was run-out courtesy Hayat’s flat throw from the deep.

The three wickets in quick time did very little to lift Hong Kong, whose muted celebrations were a giveaway that it wouldn’t really affect the big picture as Afghanistan completed an easy chase and knocked a hugely disappointing Hong Kong out of the World Twenty20 tournament.

Afghanistan 119 for 4 (Shahzad 41, Noor Ali 35) beat Hong Kong 116 for 6 (Rath 28, Campbell 27, Nabi 4-20) by six wickets

source: ICC, cricinfo

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 12 March, 2016

Le Pain Quotidien Opening Party – 9 March, 2016

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Le Pain Quotidien opened worldwide branch number 242 in Wanchai on 9 March, 2016 and celebrated with music, champagne and bread.
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Bon Iver @ MacPherson Stadium – 8 March, 2016

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Bon Iver charmed a packed MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok on the last stop of his tour. The 70 minute set was a mix of solo and band arrangements often with a three voice ‘choir’ adding to the aural intensity.
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Hong Kong Stumble Against Zimbabwe

Batting fireworks from Jamie Atkinson and Tanwir Afzal were not enough as Hong Kong lost to Zimbabwe by 14 runs in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 in Nagpur on Tuesday.

A late flurry with the bat, including a career-best 44-ball 53 from Atkinson and a brisk, undefeated 31 from skipper Tanwir off 17 balls, was not enough to chase down the target of 159 set by Zimbabwe.

It was the first time the teams have faced each other in a T20I, and Hong Kong’s precise fielding kept the Zimbabwe batsmen on their toes, with Babar Hayat contributing to three brilliant run outs from the boundary. Skipper Tanwir and 21-year-old Aizaz Khan claimed two wickets apiece as Zimbabwe posted 158 runs for the loss of eight wickets.

In response, Hong Kong got off to a slow start, but opener Atkinson unleashed to score 27 runs in his last three overs, while Tanwir smashed three fours and a six to race to an unbeaten 31 runs from only 17 deliveries. The batting onslaught proved too little, too late, however, and Zimbabwe recorded the first victory of the tournament by 14 runs.

Captain Tanwir Afzal said that despite the disappointment of losing, he saw many positives in his side’s performance: “Our plan was to bowl first and to restrict them for less than 140, and I think we managed that really well in the middle overs. We were in a position to control them, to restrict them below 145. The last few overs weren’t really good, so I think we had a very good plan that we executed well until the last few overs.”

“Even with their total, we knew we could chase that total and we know our batting ability, we can chase that.”

Tanwir said that the Zimbabwean bowlers effectively kept the Hong Kong run rate down at the beginning of the run chase: “We know that if we can save the wickets in the powerplay, we can accelerate later on. But unfortunately, we were able to save the wickets, but we couldn’t get our target in the powerplay. Credit goes to the Zimbabweans, they bowled really well in the powerplay.

“Of course we are disappointed with the result, and we know that runs really matter in the points table. The next game is really crucial for us. We know that we are still alive in the group, and we will work very hard to produce better results in the next game.”

Reflecting on his all-round performance, Tanwir said: “It’s all about the team and team work. Forget about my performance – if we win, that is a big thing for me.”

Hong Kong will have one rest day before it faces Afghanistan in a night match at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur, on 10 March.

Result: Zimbabwe won by 14 runs
Zimbabwe 158 for 8, 20 overs (Vusi Sibanda 59, Elton Chigumbura 30 not out, Malcolm Waller 26; Tanwir Afzal 2-19, Aizaz Khan 2-33, Nadeem Ahmed 1-26)
Hong Kong 144 for 6, 20 overs (Jaime Atkinson 53, Tanwir Afzal 31 not out, Mark Chapman 19; Donald Tiripano 2-27, Tendai Chatara 2-28)

Man of the Match: Vusi Sibanda

WNL1 B Semi-final Match Report: HKCC 48-7 Tai Po Dragons – 5 March, 2016

HKCC went into the knock-out stages of the season still on a high from the previous weekend’s sealing of the WNL1 B league title. Alex Tarleton reports as HKCC played the Tai Po Dragons hoping to reach a Grand Championships final for the first time since its reincarnation.

The opening minutes saw scrappy play mainly in the Tai Po half as the Dragons worked hard to keep HKCC at bay. A defensive scrum was excellently stolen by HKCC to put the ladies in white on the front foot. HKCC made their way into the Tai Po 22 through some good work by the forwards and then two passes down the line unleashed Tissia Polycarpe for her first of the day in the corner, 5-0.

5 minutes later Tissia added her second in almost identical fashion after some good forward play scoring in the opposite corner, with Harriet Jamieson adding the extras to make the score 12-0.

The HKCC forwards continued to dominate play and turned a Tai Po scrum. From the resulting put-in, simple hands down the line to the wing saw the flying Russian Yana Dimitrova score in the corner as HKCC’s lead increased to 17-0.

HKCC continued to put pressure on the Dragons as Tai Po were boxed in their 22 for the majority of the first half. Another scrum 5 metres out and saw the forwards use their dominance to drive towards the line. No.8 Lynda Nazer showed some great footwork before picking up to push over the line to make the score 22-0.

Approaching half time, Tai Po had a spell of pressure pushing HKCC back into their own half. The Cricket Club defence contained the Tai Po attack and earned a scrum. Some great interchanging passes between Ashley Brooks and Tissia Polycarpe brought the play back into the Tai Po half with Tissia sprinting home to complete a first-half hat-trick. Jamieson made the conversion for a half-time score of 29-0.

The second half started with HKCC not taking their foot off the peddle as Ashley Brooks took a quick penalty on the half way line and jinked in and around the defence to score under the posts with Harriet again converting and taking the lead to 36-0.

Tai Po refused to give in and continued to press the HKCC defence, Centre Tissia however stole the ball in the HKCC 22 and danced through the Tai Po defence to score her 4th try with an emphatic run from her own half, 41-0.

In the closing 10 minutes HKCC continued to bombard the Tai Po try-line and a final score arrived as Lynda Nazer scored her second when she again picked up from the base of the scrum and powered over the line. Harriet added the conversion to put HKCC 48-0.

In the closing minutes the proud Tai Po Dragons team continued to play with great heart and passion and their effort was rewarded on the last play of the game. The ball was shifted wide to the wing who, still with a lot of work to do, used her speed to sprint passed the HKCC defenders and score under the posts and with the conversion added, the final score read 48-7.

HKCC play HK Scottish in the WNL1 B Final, 4:30pm, 12 March at KGV.

Player of the Match: Tissia Polycarpe

HKCC:
Carolyn Champion, Wawa Li, Nobuko Oda, Lauren Petersen, Lainie Man, Isabella Rivers, Cheryl Gourley, Lynda Nazer, Emma Chung, Harriet Jameison, Diani Li, Tinley Wong, Tissia Polycarpe, Yana Dimitrova, Angie Ng, Ashley Brooks, Katie Rowbottom, Mhairi McLaughlin, Stephanie Zhang, Kassie Chapel,Serene Yee, Julia Mason, Jo Harvey