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Hong Kong Beat Thailand to Claim Third Place

Hong Kong women claim third place 36-7 with a convincing 6 try demolition win over Thailand.

Earlier in the day China’s women dashed Hong Kong’s hopes for cup final appearance at their home tournament with a 19-7 win in the cup semi final. A slow start proved disastrous for the hosts as the visitors dominated possession and territory en route to a 12-0 lead at the half.

Hong Kong brought the score back 12-7 with a try by Natasha Olson-Thorne in the second half. China proved too strong though and a late breakaway try clinched the match just as the hosts pushed for the win.

“We had a better second half, but we gave away some cheap tries early on and we can’t afford to do that,” said Hong Kong coach Anna Richards. “We have got to make better use of the ball when we have it. In the second half we were a lot better, there was greater urgency and we scored a good try, but we probably should have scored a couple more with the amount of ball we had,” Richards added.

The loss sent Hong Kong to the third/fourth place play-off against Thailand who had earlier lost to Japan in their semi final.

In the play-off, Hong Kong fired out of the starting blocks posting three unanswered first half tries with a brace from Aggie Poon Pak-yan bookending a try from Ivy Kwong Sau-yan giving them a 19-0 cushion.

On the back foot for the entirety of the game, Thailand’s only reply came from the kick-off of the second half, as Hong Kong expressed itself with three more tries in the second half to run out 36-7 winners.

“It’s nice to finish like that, but it’s been a disappointing weekend in some aspects. We have done some things quite well and when we give ourselves the opportunity to attack we look quite good, but we have to be able to do that in the big pressure games,” Richards added.

“This is a good start and we have two tournaments still to come. Our aim is to make the final in the next leg and to do that we need to work on keeping our composure and making the most of what we have in front of us. We turned the ball over too quickly and gave away too many cheap tries this weekend. If we continue to do that then we are going to be on the back foot from the start,” said Richards.

Hong Kong Women’s Sevens Squad (Asia Rugby Sevens Series – Hong Kong): Cheng Ka-Chi, Christy (Captain); Natasha Olson-Thorne (Vice Captain); Nam Ka-Man; Candy Cheng Tsz-Ting; Aggie Poon Pak-Yan; Sham Wai-Sum; Colleen Tjosvold; Kwong Sau-Yan; Li Nim-Yan, Melody; Chong Ka-Yan, Adrienne Garvey, Yuen Lok-Yee.

Hong Kong Win First Leg of Asia Rugby Sevens

Hong Kong won the opening leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2016 held at the Hong Kong Football Club, defeating Sri Lanka 22-17 in a pulsating final.

It was Hong Kong’s second victory over Sri Lanka in two days after blanking the visitors in their final pool match on Saturday, 22-0. In the final though the Sri Lankans made Hong Kong work much harder jumping out to an early 7-0 lead after the home team had trouble controlling the kick-off. It was the first time that Hong Kong had trailed in any match over the course of the tournament.

Tries from forwards James Cunningham and Chris Maize gave Hong Kong the lead 12-7 at half-time but renewed Sri Lankan pressure from the kick-off led to another early second-half try for the visitors as they drew level at 12-all.

Sri Lanka ramped up the pressure, crossing over for a second try in the opening two minutes of the half to extend their lead to 17-12.

With the final on the line, Hong Kong’s veteran sevens star Rowan Varty combined well with forward Mike Coverdale to bring the ball down cleanly for the first time in the match to give Hong Kong a solid attacking platform.

The hosts quickly moved the ball to the Sri Lanka try-line with Coverdale nearly scoring in the corner before Lee Jones muscled over from phase play in close to put Hong Kong back in the match at 17-all. Player of the tournament Ben Rimene slotted the pressure conversion from the near touch-line to push Hong Kong out to 19-17 with less than two minutes remaining.

Hong Kong maintained the pressure, forcing Sri Lanka to concede a late penalty, which Rimene converted for a 22-17 win over a Sri Lanka team that should figure prominently in the Series.

“It was a good test and Sri Lanka played very well,” said Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber. “Their reaction to the ball was better than ours and their kick-off strategy put us under real pressure. We weren’t accurate enough and in fourteen minutes you lose a few of those and it’s a different game.

“But I’m pleased with what we achieved. We showed common sense and a good rugby brain to get us out of the hole and a good will to win from 12 guys that worked hard all weekend,” Baber added.

He was especially pleased with the consistency shown by his team throughout the weekend: “That’s always big. Every time you go up against tougher and tougher opposition you want to see that in evidence. It is something we’ve talked a lot about in training in terms of improving our ability to go and play against the best in the world. There was a lot of consistency about us this weekend, which gave us that confidence to go out in a tight final to win it out,” Baber said.

Baber is aware that the challenge will only get tougher from here on out: “The next two legs are going to be tough. We have to go to Korea and Sri Lanka and both of those teams featured prominently here. They will be very comfortable on their home soil and we’re going to have to up our game again, but that is the challenge. Every time we go to these tournaments we want to up our level to get past the next one and the next one, that is what drives us all forward in Asian rugby,” Baber concluded.

Hong Kong advanced to the final after beating South Korea 28-14 in the semis, while Sri Lanka beat China 19-17 in a match with three lead changes in the dying minutes.

Hong Kong
Max Woodward, Michael Coverdale, James Cunningham, Lee Jones, Christopher Maize, Rowan Varty, Salom Yiu Kam-shing, Cado Lee Ka-to, Ben Rimene, Alex McQueen, Tom McQueen, Ryan Meacheam.

Additional reporting and photo: HKRU

Men’s Domestic Cricket Leagues Restructured

Babar Hayat in action against Hong Kong Cricket Club in the Hong Kong Premier League One-Day Tournament

Hong Kong’s domestic leagues have been revamped for the 2016-17 season in a move designed to provide more quality cricket for players aspiring for national selection.

The 35-over a side Saturday competition has been renamed the Championship League, while the 50-overs a side Sunday competition has been renamed the Elite League.

The changes are not just cosmetic with the new Elite League split into two divisions, the first made up of six teams and the second with seven teams in a move designed to ensure more competitive matches for the top teams.

“After the success of splitting the Championship league into two divisions it was a no brainer to adopt a similar change in the Elite league to ensure we have more meaningful games across all levels and formats,” said Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) Director of Cricket Charlie Burke.

“We have seen more juniors playing in senior leagues in the last few years as a result and it has also encouraged the stalwarts or the older generations to find a place they enjoy playing as well as finding it competitive.”

“The support from the clubs in making these changes have been fantastic and as a result we will see more competitive competition in both the Championship and Elite leagues in 2016-17.”

The Premier League has also been moved under the National Performance program meaning it’s funded by HKCA. The Premier League Independents team which was a conglomerate of the smaller Hong Kong clubs will now be funded, managed, selected and coached by HKCA.

“As an ODI nation it is vital to have a clear pathway and an opportunity for aspiring cricketers to have a platform where they will get noticed. Having the Premier League comprising of the best 55 players in Hong Kong is critical for the performance of our National team,” added Burke.

“We have 15 contracted players now and these players need an opportunity to be challenged at a domestic level and the selectors need a platform from where to offer contracts. Strong performances will be rewarded with selection in the National squad as we continue to prepare and work towards the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.”

“An encouraging sign has been the amount of players that have now gone from Premier League Cricket into the National squad in the last two seasons. The cricket community will see a bigger, better competition along with the clubs now ensuring a dedicated program for their elite players. We are also looking to schedule a fixture between last season’s Premier League Team of the Year and the National Squad.”

The 2016-17 season kicks off on September 3 with Pakistan Association and USRC battling it out in the Women’s T20 competition followed by the KCC Tartars vs CCC Jing Sun at Mission Road and DLSWCC Spartans vs Centaurs CC at PKVR Park in the Championship League.

Men’s cricket in Hong Kong
There are presently three main competitions in men’s cricket – the Premier League, the Elite League played on Sundays and the Championship League on Saturdays.

The Premier League
Features the top players in Hong Kong with five teams competing in three formats – two-day matches, one-day 50-over matches and Twenty20 matches. Teams competing in the Premier League are Hong Kong Cricket Club, Kowloon Cricket Club, Little Sai Wan Cricket Club, Pakistan Association and a fifth team comprising the best players from the other clubs – called the Cricket Hong Kong Independents XI.

Elite League
Round-robin 50-over competition that is contested in two divisions. The best players from this competition also play in the Premier League.

Championship League
A 35-over competition featuring two divisions of 10 teams. Teams play the other teams in their division once, followed by a play-off series to determine the competition winners and the promotion and relegation placings. Matches are generally played on Saturday afternoons starting at 1PM.

Hong Kong Fall Short, Despite Nizakat Khan Century

A brilliant century from Nizakat Khan wasn’t enough for Hong Kong as Ireland triumphed by 70 runs in their Intercontinental Cup clash at Stormont.

Hong Kong claimed the last three Irish wickets for nine runs to dismiss the hosts for 230 in their second innings – but the target of 310 for victory proved too much.

Hong Kong, who had just 18 First Class appearances in the team compared to Ireland’s 943 were not disgraced, as Nizakat’s 123 kept the visitors with a fighting chance deep into the fourth and final day. Hong Kong were eventually dismissed for 239 in their second innings.

Nizakat became just the third batsman to score a century in a First Class match for Hong Kong, which came from 181 balls. He had also scored 69 runs in the first innings. Unfortunately, he couldn’t garner enough support with Babar Hayat and Nadeem Ahmed’s scores of 28 the next best for Hong Kong.

The win moves Ireland back to the top of the Intercontinental Cup table, while Hong Kong remain in fourth place.

IRELAND 316 (G Wilson 95 Tanwir Afzal 4-63 Nadeem Ahmed 4-73) & 230 (J Anderson 59 Tanwir Afzal 3-53 Nadeem Ahmed 3-65) def HONG KONG 237 (Anshuman Rath 73* Nizakat Khan 69) & 239 (Nizakat Khan 123 T Murtagh 4-29)

https://youtu.be/MT-8nP4IJaI

Highlights: Ireland v Hong Kong D4 (https://youtu.be/MT-8nP4IJaI)

Interview with Nizakat Khan
“I think we’ve improved a lot as a team – the guys are getting mature. Ireland are a top team and more experienced than us – this match shows clearly that we can compete against these big teams. We are fit now and no complaints from us we are looking forward to the T20s.”

“I need to give credit to Mark Wright who has helped me with my batting and to Cambo (Ryan Campbell) and Cooky (Simon Cook). I was full of confidence before the game and I knew I would perform – it was unfortunate we lost but every one chipped and we will build on that for next game.”

“It felt really good to make a 100 – when I came here I just wanted to score a hundred and it was an amazing feeling – it wasn’t easy but I just fought to the end. I’m happy with myself but I know I still have a lot of improvement to make.”

Interview with Simon Cook
“I can’t help but look back on that first session where we leaked 40 or 50 runs and that put us behind the game on a low scoring pitch and you can’t give them that sort of head start and it came down to that at the end. We fought valiantly in the last innings here. Nizakat was outstanding but no one played with him.”

“In defeat we had so many positives and to bat 100 over in the first innings and 80 overs in the second was a great effort. We have played some really good cricket and I think a few here were surprised as to how much of a fight we put up. I’m really happy with how we played but disappointed with the result I was confident we could win the game after our preparation.”

“This morning’s wickets set up our momentum – we thought we could chase 300 down and at lunch time we weren’t in a bad position. But a couple of quick wickets we were back on the back foot. We felt if we could bat the whole day we would win and we were 17 overs short of that.”

“Nizkakat has been working really hard on a technical change in how he combats the short ball he’s worked really hard. After all his hard work I was confident he was going to perform because the last week he was hitting the ball so well in the nets and as soon as he went out to the crease he was moving really well. When he’s playing like this he’s looking like a million dollars and a First Class cricketer but he needs to keep pushing to make his game as consistent as possible. He could be one of the top Associate batters in the world.”

Hong Kong in Cup Semi-finals at Asian Womens Rugby Sevens

Hong Kong advanced to the Asian Women’s Sevens Cup semi-finals finishing second in their pool. Hong Kong beat Guam 29-0 in the opening match, followed by a stuttering 7-0 win over Singapore in their second encounter with Hong Kong striking early but then unable to add to the tally for the remaining 13 minutes of the match.

The early wins set up a climactic pool game against Japan to see who would come out on top of the pool. Japan were comfortable 28-0 winners in a one-sided victory. Hong Kong failed to fire from the outset, with an uncharacteristic amount of loose ball and turnovers putting the game out of the hosts’ reach by half-time.

Despite the down finish to the afternoon, coach Anna Richards was mindful that the team are still on target heading into day two.

“That match was a good wake up for the girls,” said Richards. “The first two games I didn’t think we really played that well and I thought that against Japan we played much better. We were made to work hard and we kept at it and I was really pleased at the girls energy levels in the second half. We kept at them and started to make some ground late,” Richards said.

The going will get even tougher for the hosts when they play China in the cup semi final. Japan play Thailand in the other bracket.

“China were heads and shoulders better than everybody else in the field I thought,” said Richards. “We are going to need to reduce our errors tomorrow and make the most of what ball we have. Make sure that we protect that ball and not let them turn us over. China are a big team like Japan so we need to put them on the ground quickly and cut off their attacking space.

“China like to play out wide and I don’t think they attack the ruck in the same way Japan does. We did a good job of sealing off the ball today against Japan so if we can get our halfbacks over the ball quicker we should have more possession.

“We need to play like we did in the second half against Japan. We need to cut China’s attacking space down for 14 minutes. It’s difficult to do but at this level it’s essential. We also need to be a bit more accurate with the ball and capitalise on the breaks when we have them as you don’t get many,” Richards concluded.

Singapore will play Uzbekistan in the first plate semi final followed by Guam versus Sri Lanka in the second. Japan will play Thailand in the other cup semi final. Match action starts tomorrow at 11.00am an Hong Kong will face China at 12.06

Asia Rugby Sevens Series
Date: 2-3 September, 2016
Venue: HK Football Club
Tickets: Free
More info: public entry via Happy Valley infield, via the tunnel near the HK Racing Museum
Live stream: http://www.youtube.com/c/AsiaRugbylive/live

Additional reporting and photo: HKRU

Hong Kong Unbeaten at Asian Sevens Day One

Hong Kong looked the class of the men’s competition, as they advanced to the cup semi-finals finishing day one undefeated and without conceding a point against their pool B opponents, beating Malaysia 36-0, Chinese Taipei 47-0 and Sri Lanka 22-0. They’ll face South Korea at 13:34.

A solid first day ended with the a highly convincing win over second seeds Sri Lanka. Hong Kong’s line speed and defensive effort were good, putting every Sri Lankan possession under severe pressure while keeping Sri Lanka’s dangerous pace men penned deep in their half.

Hong Kong jumped out to 15-0 first half lead after tries from Ryan Meacheam, Leigh Jones and Alex McQueen. Tom McQueen added the final try at the end of regulation to put Hong Kong home 22-0.

Coach Gareth Baber was pleased with his side’s first foray in the region in 2016, saying: “I’m very happy with our performance. You never quite know where you are going into a new season, so it was nice to firstly come up and build on our games throughout the day and, even better, to be put under pressure by a good Sri Lanka team but still come out ahead.

“We were really brave against Sri Lanka. We were aggressive and accurate and deserved that victory. If we can reach that level again tomorrow there is no reason why we can’t progress further,” Baber added.

Hong Kong’s attack was on song as the side posted 105 points on the day – by far the best in the tournament with Sri Lanka and South Korea trailing on 83 and 82 points respectively, but Baber was also pleased with the side’s defensive effort.

“Great to have that clean sheet at the end of the day. Our defence is something we pride ourselves on and I think it says something about the attitude of the group. It’s great to score tries and entertain, but if you can prevent the opposition from building pressure and not allow them areas to dominate, it makes a big statement and I thought we showed that attitude tonight,” Baber added.

Hong Kong will need more of the same in tomorrow’s match to bypass a fast and physical South Korea. “Korea are a good team,” said Baber. “We know them well and they have a very good outfit here this weekend. They are physical and fast but we are playing at a good level and I’m sure that they will be looking over their shoulders as well at us.”

“The players know what is ahead of them and what we need to do. We’ll go about that the way we always do. We have a system and a way we want to play and we had the right attitude today,” Baber said.

China were the surprise finishers at the top of Pool A after beating Japan 12-10 in their season opener before edging South Korea 19-17 in their final pool match. China will play Sri Lanka in tomorrow’s first cup semi-final.

Japan featured a side full of unseasoned university talent this weekend as they opted to give a well-deserved rest to their first-choice seven after finishing in fourth place at the Rio Olympics.

The inexperience showed as Japan was routed to the Plate competition where they will play Chinese Taipei. The early glitch could make Japan’s title defence that much harder as Hong Kong found out to their detriment last season when they fell to the Plate in the opener in Qingdao. Singapore and Malaysia will feature in a cross-Causeway clash in the other Plate semi final.

Additional reporting and photo: HKRU

Anna Richards Picks Experienced Women’s Squad

Two years ago, at the first ever hosting of an Asia Rugby Sevens Series event in Hong Kong, the HK women’s team beat Japan in the semi-finals to reach their first ever Cup final, losing there to China 38-7.

Women’s Sevens coach Anna Richards is hoping to capitalise on home field advantage again as the ARW7s opens today at the HK Football Club. Richards has picked an experienced side for this week’s competition with the objective of going one step further at team’s home event and lifting the trophy..

“Marky (Komar, Women’s Sevens assistant coach), and I are very happy with the make-up of the side. We had almost everyone to choose from and we chose the side we thought would get us a win in the first leg,” said Richards as the squad trained. The squad has a familiar feel to it with captain Christy Cheng Ka-chi once again leading from the front while Aggie Poon Pak-yan and Natasha Olson-Thorne will provide a potent force out wide.

Hong Kong are the second seeds in Pool A tomorrow behind Japan and ahead of Singapore and Guam. Pool B features China, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka.

While Hong Kong beat Japan in their last outing at the HK Women’s Rugby Sevens in March, Richards says the stakes have grown for all the teams in the intervening months and expects a stiffer challenge from the Asian champions tomorrow who will be looking to improve on their disappointing Olympics where they finished tenth.

“We’re six months down the track from that win, and Japan have brought their top side here this weekend. They are no longer a core team on the international series so like all the teams here they will need to finish in the top two in the Asian Series to gain entry to the Women’s World Series qualifiers. I see a lot of their top girls in their squad for this weekend, which is what we want. It’s always good to play Japan no matter what and we want to face their best.”

A strong day one will be essential and Richards is pleased that the opportunity will come in front of a friendly audience. “It is always nice to start a competition like this at home. It is only our third tournament of the year so the girls are excited. We have done a lot of training, but haven’t played in a lot of tournaments. The girls are keen to get out there. They love to play in Hong Kong in front of their families,” said Richards.

A positive start is a priority for Richards who recalled that Hong Kong’s impressive finish in 2014 was nearly derailed by a sluggish start. “In 2014 we had a poor first day. We just snuck into the semis on goal difference as we drew with Thailand. Then on day two we had a great win over Japan but didn’t do so well against China in the final.

“That was the first time the girls had won silver, but I would like to emulate last year’s Season opener in Qingdao when we played really well to win our first Cup on the Series.” Hong Kong beat China convincingly in the final 24-15 in Qingdao to claim their first ever Asia Rugby Sevens Series event title. “Qingdao was really a watershed moment for the girls and I would like to carry on from there,” said Richards.

The Asian Sevens Series serves a qualifier for the global qualification tournament for the Women’s World Sevens Series with invites handed out to the top two finishers.

Additional reporting and photo: HKRU

Ireland Lead Hong Kong by 278

Ireland maintained the upper hand on day three despite the Belfast weather playing havoc with the day’s cricket. When bad light eventually stopped play for the final time, Ireland had reached 199-6 from 51 overs, with an overall lead of 278.

As in the first innings Hong Kong fought hard keeping the hosts honest after Ireland had reached 101-1 and were looking to set up a day three declaration.

The hopes for a result in what’s a pretty tight match were hindered by the loss of 45 due to the on-off showers that frustrated throughout the day.

The day’s highlight for Hong Kong were two wickets in successive overs from 18-year-old debutant Tanveer Ahmed (2-22) with two short pitched deliveries. While Tanwir Afzal (2-36) picked up two wickets, including the important scalp of in-form Gary Wilson for 25 on what proved to be the last ball of the day.

For Ireland, John Anderson batted superbly including some deft reverse sweeps in making 59.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evk1-lpyPcY

Highlights: Ireland v Hong Kong D3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evk1-lpyPcY)

Tanwir Afzal on Day 3
“I think we recovered well – in the first innings we leaked runs with the new ball but we executed our plans well today” Afzal said.

After not such a good start in the first innings, I’ve bowled better and I just tried to contain the runs and bowl in the right areas. It was great for Tanveer to pick up a couple of wickets as well, I’m happy for him. He’s a talented young bowler.”

“Personally, I feel our spinners have bowled well in both innings and spun the ball a lot but when the Irish spinners bowled it didn’t turn as much so hopefully it plays the same for tomorrow. There’s a bit of movement with the new ball so our openers will need to survive.”

“They will be looking for another 30 or 40 runs, but we batted well in the first innings and we have big man Babar who will be ready to fire. I think we are still in the game if we can get the last four wickets quickly.”

“It was a really tough day with the weather making the ball wet and it was quite dark and tricky for batsmen and fielders to pick up the ball. Both teams are looking to win the game and hopefully the rain stays away tomorrow to give us a chance.”

Additional reporting and scorecard: HK Cricket, Cricinfo