HKRFU announce training squad for November tests versus Russia

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) today announced its 33-man training squad to prepare for the upcoming tests against Russia, ranked 20th in the world, in November. Hong Kong will play Russia in a two-test series on November 8th at King’s Park and November 15th at Hong Kong Football Club. Both matches will kick off at 18.00.

The November 15th match will be the showpiece of a festival of rugby at Football Club. The Hong Kong versus Russia tie will be preceded by the NATIXIS Cup between French Top 14 club Racing Metro and the Hong Kong Football Club’s President’s Select at 15.00 with an HKFC-Shanghai interport game at 12.30. Leading French financial institution Natixis sponsors both Racing Metro and Hong Kong Football Club’s Rugby section. Attendance to all matches on both dates is free. HKG-flyhalf-Chris-McAdam

The Hong Kong management team, headed by senior coach Andy Hall and manager Dai Rees, have selected a squad of 31 players to train for the Russia tests while seven other players have also been invited to train or placed on standby to add strength in depth for the campaign.

Rees, also the HKRFU head of technical development and performance, commented on the opposition saying, “We have been working with the IRB on bringing a team ranked near us in world rugby to push us out of our comfort zone. We had some negotiations, and Russia on the back of fighting to qualify for the world cup, was the ideal opponent.”

Russia is currently ranked 20th in the International Rugby Board world rankings while Hong Kong is ranked 24th.

“From a performance perspective, the main reason behind these tests is to vary our opposition and to play other teams rather than the usual suspects in Asia. We need this to push ourselves to the next level with qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2019 in mind,” said Rees. “We played Belgium here last December in two tests and were lucky enough to push our world rankings up by beating them twice. Hopefully we can repeat the feat against Russia,” Rees added.

The training squad includes many veterans of Hong Kong’s recent international campaigns, including the sweep of Belgium last December and the ARFU Asian 5 Nations and RWC 2015 qualification campaigns earlier this year.

But the selectors will need to plug a few key gaps after the retirements of front row forwards Stephen Nolan and Tom Bolland and No. 8 Pale Tauti. This will become even more important as Russia is expected to bring a physical, forward-orientated side to Hong Kong.

“We expect Russia to provide a stern test up front,” said HKRFU senior coach Andy Hall, “But from the footage we have seen they also have a balanced attack and skill sets that allow them to play a physical but quick tempo game.”

“The retirements of Tom, Steve and Pale leave considerable holes in our pack as will the unavailability of James Cooper for the test series, but it has been great to see [Societe Generale Valley props] Leon Wei and Alex Ng wreaking havoc for opposition front rowers in the league and we are excited to have [USRC Tigers’ hooker] Alvin Chik return to the training squad to give us more strength up front,” said senior coach Andy Hall.

Hall will also be able to evaluate the Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish duo of Jack Parfitt and John Aikman as additional front row support. Both are in contention to make their senior debuts for Hong Kong after being included in the training squad.

Elsewhere, Hall will be comforted by the fact that the remainder of the training squad is highly experienced with 23 players in the training squad having been capped at full representative level over the past two seasons. That experience is reinforced by the inclusion of eight members of Hong Kong’s sevens team that clinched the Asian sevens title last weekend in Beijing, sweeping all three events on the series in 2014.

The sevens squad members are all professional athletes at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, while four additional HKSI rugby sevens athletes have also been called upon in Charles Cheung, Andrew Bridle, Adam Rolston and Calvin Hunter.

Outside of the front row, the remainder of the forward pack in the training squad has a settled feel to it, with Nick Hewson, Matt Lamming, Paul Dwyer, Jack Delaforce, Bill Brant, Alex Harris, Lachlan Chubb and Ng and Wei all having proved their mettle on previous encounters.

Five players in the training squad are in contention to make their Hong Kong senior debut after having satisfied eligibility requirements. Those players are Hong Kong Football Club fullback Jimmy Richards, Kowloon back Duncan Pollock, the Hong Kong Scottish duo of Parfitt and Aikman and Tigers’ lock Calvin Hunter.

Hong Kong and Russia share something in common as both their Rugby World Cup 2015 qualification derailed by Uruguay. Hong Kong lost to Uruguay in the first stage of qualification in Montevideo, 28-3, while Russia lost a home and away series to Los Teros by an aggregate points difference of eight.

“We left Montevideo thinking it would have been a different story if we had had a home and away Series and Russia gives us an opportunity to test that theory,” said Hall. “They competed well against Uruguay and we know first-hand how challenging the South Americans are as opponents. Russia will be another step up from Belgium last year and hopefully our experience against Uruguay will stand us in good stead,” said Hall.

“The tests against Russia represent the next exciting phase for our international programme. While the rest of the world awaits Rugby World Cup 2015 in England, in Hong Kong we are already looking ahead and planning for 2019,” Hall added.

HKRFU Training Squad: Calvin HUNTER (USRC Tigers); Josh LI (HKFC); Michael COVERDALE (HKFC); Nick HEWSON (Valley); Andrew BRIDLE (Valley); Matt LAMMING (HKCC); Dave WHITEFORD (HKS); Jake PHELPS (HKFC); Lloyd JONES (HKFC); Max WOODWARD (Valley); Chris McADAM (Kowloon); Jamie HOOD (HKFC); Niall ROWARK (HKFC); Alex McQUEEN (HKCC); Jimmy RICHARDS (HKFC); Alex HARRIS (Kowloon); Alvin CHIK (USRC Tigers); Lachlan CHUBB (HKS); Bill BRANT (HKCC); Jack DELAFORCE (HKCC); Paul DWYER (HKCC); NG Wai Shing, Alex (Valley); Jack PARFITT (HKS); John AIKMAN (HKS); WEI Hon Sum, Leon (Valley); Adam ROLSTON (Valley); Charles CHEUNG (HKS); Duncan POLLOCK (Kowloon); Rowan VARTY (HKCC); YIU Kam Shing, Salom (Valley); Tom McQUEEN (HKCC).

Invited to Train: Tyler SPITZ; Reece HAMON; Ari ROGERS; JW MARKLEY; Michael WOODWARD; LEE, Jun Sing; Phil LEUNG.

Standby: Damian BAILEY; Tom HAYMAN; Tomasi LAWA; Jack NIELSEN; Jonny REES; Seb ALFONSI

Michelle Wong – The Wave of Umbrellas: Occupy Protests in Hong Kong

The protest in Hong Kong is in its third week and clashes between the people themselves are beginning to unfold. Anti-Occupy groups are beginning to self-organise themselves against Occupy protesters, hiring trucks and lorries to dismember makeshift barricades that have been blocking traffic off some of Hong Kong’s major thoroughfares on the Island. The development of events and interaction between government and protesters are totally unpredictable. Negotiation talks that were announced to take place on 10 October were called off suddenly; everyday is rumoured to be a deadline for police clearance of the Occupy sites. And every night protesters stay on the streets till the sun dawns the next day.

The experience of the protests is immediate. The barricades so far have come in no standardised form, and because of them there is so much more space in the city. On 26 September, before we erected the barricades, I saw the crowd overflowing from Admiralty Centre into Harcourt Road. I am in the crowd flooding out from Fenwick Pier Street as the traffic seemed to voluntarily halt. I looked to my left as I walked westward on the eastbound lane of Gloucester Road alongside people whom I had never met and faces I cannot recall. I looked to the right into the Government Headquarters plaza and saw more faces I cannot recall. A ribbon of blue uniforms kept the three crowds apart. Roads that I rarely took, I now roam. I felt the heat swelling up in the asphalt as I sat on the road in midday; I felt the road contracting and cooling as I stretched my legs during sundown.

The experience of the protests is mediated. Social media has been the most powerful tool of communication and diverse news source at the moment. Rumours too fly through the ether, including manipulated images of the People’s Liberation Army advancing into town. And the head of the city speaks only through pre-recorded videos and interviews. At 23:34, on 28 September, the protesters flew out a drone from the bridge in Admiralty. I am on the ground and I look up into a negative landscape of the sky, at cutouts of the night amidst the buildings that surrounded me. And I am also in the skies as I look down upon a sea of black dots, my fellow people occupying the streets, alleyways, and roads that we never thought of standing in shoulder to shoulder. As I look into the screen, onto a back-lit surface on which we swipe our fingers to sift through not only images and text, but also information, knowledge, and emotions. An announcement scrolled across the television screen on that same night read “Fireworks for National Day celebration cancelled.”

On 3 October, some brought chalk with them and wrote on the ground “I am here today because”. What ensued was a whole section of the lane filling up with lines after lines of writing in chalk, of people telling the world why they were there that day and every day. Some of us found an open spot on the bridge amongst the crowd and perched there for fresh air. You asked me if I see myself as an activist. I replied I am not sure if I would call myself one. But I think, I know, and I believe, that the life and practice I have chosen to live and breathe, is a choice to hope that we can live differently and more justly. I do not know if we can live differently and more justly, but I think I would choose to hope so. And if hope is fleeting, like our friends from Tahrir Square cautioned, I am determined to live differently and more justly and demand the impossible. Just 3 nights before, we opened and closed our umbrellas rhythmically and cheered. It had just past midnight, it was 1 October, and though there were no fireworks, with umbrellas we counted down to the National Day.

A few days later I went back to that bridge where I had stood, looking for this one signage that I did not capture then. I was stopped by a young fellow protester who was no older than 16, who denied me access to the footbridge where the sign was because I did not have a staff pass to the building that the bridge led to. Protesters were restricting access to the bridge in fear of police clearance. But I got through to photograph the sign in the end. It read:
“During the 1989 student movement, there was a time when it was like a carnival in Tiananmen Square. The students and citizens were dancing and singing together, thinking that their resistance would win because of the huge masses. No one could imagine what happened afterwards. Do not forget why you are here, stay strong and determined.”

In another historical moment and in another place some 73 years ago, a poet had written to his people some verses in Urdu that feel like ours. I think they beckon us too, today.

Speak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.

See how in the blacksmith’s shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,
And every chain begins to break.

Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, ’cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.

“Bol” (Speak) by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, published in ‘Naqsh-e-Feryadi’, 1941.

Originally published here http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1027625

Occupy Lion Rock – I Want True Democracy

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It took a week to prepare, before a group of experienced climbers could scale the highly symbolic Lion Rock and erected a massive 6x28m banner proclaiming “I want true democracy – Umbrella Movement”

Here’s the behind the scene video of how they hung the banner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQ2rj-7DDE

Lion Rock holds a special significance across the city courtesy of Roman Tam’s “Below The Lion Rock” a 1979 cantopop song whose message is that Hongkongers can overcome all challenges if they are united.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twV8deBOMwI

http://youtu.be/MFibGajN3Q4?list=UUeqUUXaM75wrK5Aalo6UorQ

Belle and Sebastian, live in Hong Kong @ Asia World Arena – 15 February, 2015

Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian, live in Hong Kong
When: 15 February, 2015
Where: Asia World Arena
How much: $760 (all standing)
More info: Available from www.hkticketing.com from 10am on Friday 24 October

Gaucho Argentine Steakhouse

Gaucho
Rump, Fillet, Rib-eye, Sirloin, Churrasco

Gaucho Argentine steak restaurant recently opened in Hong Kong having been a staple of the London dining scene for many years. At the media preview Head of Grills Fernando Larroude talked us through the four cuts of Argentine Beef that provide the core of the restaurants menu rump, sirloin, rib-eye and fillet – your waiter will explain the cuts to you when you dine. The restaurant prides itself on the provenance of its grass-fed free-range beef, and from the small tasting samples, the beef was flavourful and tasty. One of the options on the menu is sampler featuring all four cuts – 1.2kg of beef, $998 – not often you can compare cuts.

As with most steak houses you can have your meat cut, prepared and cooked anyway you choose with steaks ranging in size from 225g to 2kg, prices vary accordingly. Sides are all extra. There’s an extensive range of starters, including delicious empanadas, and deserts picked from dishes that have proved popular in London and Dubai and for those who don’t like steak there are options including two vegetarian risottos.

The wine cellar is slightly unique in that it’s all Argentinean and currently offers a choice of over 100 wines, although this will eventually reach around 180. If you want to bring your own bottle, corkage is $300/bottle.

Lots of the more obvious things are not listed on the menu – a simple example is there’s no listing of every option of coffee. Ask your server for what you want/like, and with the heavy emphasis on friendly knowledgeable service it’s sad to see the ubiquitous 10% service charge already added.

Gaucho is open now for dinner: 6-11pm and lunch: noon-3pm.

Gaucho Hong Kong: 5/F, 31 Queens Road Central. Tel: 2386 8090 email: [email protected]

Editorial – 21 October, 2014

Did the leader of Hong Kong (supported and backed by Beijing) really say to the whole world that the lives, opinions and choices of people who earn less than US$1,800/month – roughly HK$10,000 – don’t matter.

CY, people who earn less than $10,000 month know how to budget, they appreciate each dollar earned and look for value in every dollar spent – something the government could learn from!

Just because you don’t earn a lot of money doesn’t mean you don’t have brains, common sense, opinions and a right to have a say in how your country is run. And as your own daughter has proved, just because you have money doesn’t stop you being a idiot.

The very reason people are on the streets CY is because you stopped listening to them, stopped looking out for all Hongkongers interests – which is the job of Chief Executive. You have only ever looked out for yourself and listened to those who put money in your pocket – that’s fine for a businessman.

But you’re Chief Executive now and responsible for all HongKongers interests. Perhaps you’ve forgotten who puts the majority of money into your wealthy friends pockets… it comes from those 2 million or so who earn less than $10,000. That’s $20billion a month in spending power, most of which is profit to your greedy tycoon cronies.

The people who power Hong Kong’s economy are the very people you insult with your comments and wish to disenfranchise.

We’re on the streets because we want a Chief Executive who looks out for all Hongkongers interests – not just his own. The existing method of selection hasn’t provided that, so we want change. Quite simply if you thought more about those who earned less than $10,000/month or even $15,000/month with your policies and public spending, then we wouldn’t be on the streets. And those policies have got nothing to do with the basic law – it’s incompetence and greed on the part of you and your tycoon friends that’s destroying Hong Kong.

Leighton Asia HKCC Babes 15 – 0 Comvita City Ladies

Leighton Asia HKCC Babes 15 – 0 Comvita City Ladies

Defensive superiority made all the difference for HKCC Babes at the weekend as they held off the challenge of well organised but ill-disciplined Comvita City Ladies at So Kon Po on Saturday. The first ten minutes set the tone of the game – HKCC dominating possession and territory, camped near the City try line but lacking the killer touch in linking phases together.

Making her full debut at tighthead prop, Jo Harvey impressed in early scrum exchanges, as HKCC set out clear attacking intent. But the Babes’ attacking play in the loose was sloppy, with miscommunication and some badly chosen running lines meaning that City were twice able to break out of their own 22 after withstanding prolonged pressure. The third time proved the charm though, as the experienced head and hands of fly half Julia Mason darted through a gap for the first try. And City were soon down to 14, a sin bin for repeat infractions at the breakdown. The resultant overlap was exploited with a sublime, scintillating, beautifully weighted, miss pass to inside centre Harriet Jamieson to touch down for HKCC’s second. City came back strongly, turning over the ball within a few minutes of the restart and making their first sustained break into the Babes’ half. City established their most promising position, with a line out on the ten yard line, but were thwarted by the half-time whistle.

The second half was dominated by a mis-firing scrum, with City first looking to run down the clock on a second sin-bin, and then the tiredness of novice packs beginning to show. The referee patiently called multiple resets to ensure that both sides scrummaged safely as the spectators (both on the sidelines and amongst the backs) looked on. Once out, City proved unable to make forward ground as HKCC kept up their high tackle rate, whilst niggling errors meant HKCC was unable to convert possession into points. But Captain Emily Tuck kept a cool head, with the Babes making smart decisions at penalties and making more use of the kicking game. And this paid off, City pushed back into their own half by a thumping kick from the fly half, and from resultant phases (including some outstanding rucking from Harvey, cementing her status as Player of the Game) the ball was shipped out to the right wing for Rosie Hui, who didn’t put a foot wrong all day, to race in for the third try of the game.

The game ended on a slightly sour note, with the referee spotting a punch thrown and duly red-carding the offending City player. HKCC pressed for a fourth try in the final minutes, but couldn’t find the breakthrough, leaving Head Coach Darren Cartlidge to reflect after the game that, “A win’s a win, but there is much to improve upon from this performance, particularly in building our attacking phases of play”. HKCC will look to make it three wins on the trot, against Valley at 1800 next Saturday.

HKCC Babes
Eva Rona, Cheryl Gourley, Jo Harvey, Lainie Man, Katie Rowbottom, Sarah Higgins, Wendy Sham, Rosie Wright, Emily Tuck, Lynda Nazer, Julia Mason, Harriet Jamieson, Lucy Thomson, Rosanne Hui, Apple Ng
Substitutes: Christy Igksa, Serene Yee, Olivia Lai
Tries: Julia Mason, Harriet Jamieson, Rosie Hui