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Hong Kong Cyclothon – 13 October, 2018

In the dawn’s early light thousands of cyclists and fourteen professional cycle teams pedalled their way across Hong Kong in the fourth annual Cyclothon.

In the afternoon the eleven UCI WorldTour Teams, three Pro Continental Teams and the Hong Kong National Team raced all-out in Hammer Hong Kong, the Asian leg of the professional Hammer Series. Team Mitchelton-Scott emerging victorious on the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui to win the Hammer trophy.

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Images: HKTB

Thunder Compete in Emerging Nations World Championship

The Hong Kong Thunder take to the world stage when they compete in the Rugby League 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship. The tournament takes place in Australia and features 11 countries and four Regional Confederation teams competing in 30 matches during the first two weeks of October.

The 11 teams have been broken into groups based upon their current World Rankings, and will play off for the Emerging Nations World Cup, Trophy and Bowl, whilst the four Regional Confederation teams will play off for their own trophy.

Hong Kong are in Pool C and will play Poland on the 4 October and the Solomon Islands on the 7 October. All matches are being live streamed on facebook and you can find out more about the tournament here www.rlenwc.com.

Hong Kong Thunder Squad for Emerging Nations World Cup

Seb Alfonsi, Ghislain Baleyte, Alvin Chan (陳兆墇), Jason Fairleigh, Lee Griffiths, John Howarth, Gareth Janes, Rhys Johnson, Toby Lei (雷穎中), Richard Lindsay (連冠英), Ringo Lung (龍卓楠) [Captain], Craig McMurrich, Ben Mouclier, Allan Newsome, Jack Nielsen, Komei Ogiyama (荻山浩明), Ari Rogers, Ben Ryan, Evi Seumanutafa, Alex Shvets (書羲賢), Frankie Solomona, Gus Spence, Hogan Toomalatai, Mike Tsang (曾仲禮), Matthew Waugh, Dicky Wong (黃迪奇), Tommy Wong (黄樺), Hung Yip (葉潤鴻), Jason Yip (葉仲芹)

Images: HKRL

Mixed Fortunes At Asia Rugby Sevens Series Opener

Hong Kong enjoyed a relatively successful Asia Rugby Sevens Series opener, the first of three events on this year’s Series, with the men finishing second behind Japan and the women finishing fourth.

The men set up a re-match of the Asian Games final at Hong Kong Football Club after beating the Philippines 42-7 in the last pool match before dispatching Sri Lanka, 31-0, in the semi-final.

Hong Kong entered the final having posted 228 points while conceding just seven, leaving coach Paul John concerned that his side had not been tested enough entering the showcase match. Those concerns looked unfounded in the first half with Hong Kong turning over Japan from the kick-off, and dominating the opening possession and territory stakes.

Unfortunately for the hosts they couldn’t translate that pressure into points, with the score nil-all at the break.

The second half was a mirror image of the first, as Japan exerted its dominance in the evenly matched battle between Asia’s sevens superpowers. That dominance started from the opening kick-off with unforced errors proving crucial for Hong Kong, as a bobbled take by the defence led to Japan’s first try at the start of the half.

More errors led to more scoring opportunities for Japan, who capitalized accordingly, as they pitched the shutout against Hong Kong, 12-0.

“That was a good Japan side,” said a disappointed Paul John after the final. “I think they were better than the one we played two weeks ago at the Asian Games, but that doesn’t take away the fact that we played into their hands in the final a bit.

“We played into their hands by going straight at them really, which we didn’t do too much of at the Asian Games. We turned too much ball over in contact and it was our fault, first and foremost, for not securing that kick-off that led to their try.

“There was nothing in that game. We had two errors and conceded two tries. We weren’t making those errors at the start of the weekend, but we made them in the final, when the pressure was different.

“We just need to learn from it. We won two weeks ago and we can’t just expect to win again. The boys will be disappointed with how we performed in that last game,” John added.

The women’s seven reached the match many had tipped them for at the Asian Games, progressing to the third place final against Kazakhstan, bronze medalists in Jakarta, before bowing out.

Coach Kevin West called on his side to produce three consistent performances today and he largely got them, as Hong Kong extended its recent mastery over South Korea with a 34-0 pool stage win before mounting a brave fight against China in the semi finals, succumbing 19-14.

In the third place play-off, Hong Kong’s consistency and accuracy wavered, although that was partially forced by pressure generated from a very physical Kazakhstan team.

Hong Kong were on defence from the opening whistle, digging deep for a try-saving tackle in the first minute. Hong Kong survived Kazakhstan’s early forays and, assisted by a high first half penalty count against the visitors, were able to mount their first attack of the match.

The Kazakhstan defence was up to the challenge and were able to mount a strong counter-attack out wide with the burly forwards waiting on the wings using their long arms to good advantage by fending off Stephanie Chan’s tackle to score the opening try in the fourth minute.

Leading 7-0, Kazakhstan lengthened its advantage in the second half, with help from Hong Kong who over-cooked its re-start kick to give Kazakhstan possession off the bat. The visitors made Hong Kong pay by scoring a quick try to start the final stanza.

Hong Kong had a glimmer of hope after Kazakhstan were handed a yellow card with under three minutes remaining, but could not muster any attack with their numerical advantage. The hosts scored a consolation try through Aggie Poon in the corner with the visitors back at full strength, before Kazakhstan replied at the hooter to run out 14-5 winners.

West chalked up some of his side’s miscues to the strenuous route to the play-off this afternoon, through China and Kazakhstan, the two biggest sides in Asia.

“We got up a lot for that game against China and we got a lot of things right in that game. Against Kazakhstan, we weren’t as accurate and that could have been the impact of the physicality that they brought, which China also brought.”

Although disappointed with today’s results, West says his squad remains on track. “Our goal is still the same, to finish in the top three. We are fourth now and we are going to have to improve next time and continue to do so in the one after that,” he said.

West’s projections are borne up by Hong Kong’s recent results, as they climbed from fifth overall at the Asian Games to fourth this weekend and will be targeting a top three finish in Incheon. “I’m really pleased that the girls are coming together and showing great fight throughout these tournaments. For the first time, we are leaving a tournament for the first time with the girls knowing that they could have easily finished third or been in the final. That is a real step forward for us,” West added.

Japan maintained its hot hand in the women’s competition beating China for a second straight cup final 12-7. Kazakhstan won the bronze in the women’s competition while Sri Lanka took third in the men’s.

The top ranked finishers on this year’s series (excluding World Series qualified team Japan) will earn an invite as the 16th team at the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens in 2019, while the top two non-Japanese finishers will earn slots at the international World Rugby Sevens Series qualifier played as part of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in April for a shot to earn a full-time spot on the World Series.

The top women’s side on the series table when the dust settles – excluding World Series side China, will receive an invite to play at the 20190 Kitakyushu Sevens in Japan while the two highest ranked finishers outside of China will represent Asia at the women’s world series qualifiers in Hong Kong in early 2019.

Additional reporting and images: HK rugby

Asia Rugby Sevens Series: Hong Kong – Day One

Hong Kong’s men’s sevens team picked up where they left off as the Asian Games champions went undefeated on day one of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Hong Kong. The women did one better than their last outing in Jakarta, with an early and important 22-7 win over Thailand, who had ushered Hong Kong out of the medals at the Asian Games earlier this month.

Captain Natasha Olson-Thorne paced Hong Kong with a brace of tries in the first half against Thailand with forward Nam Ka-man adding a score in the opening salvo as Hong Kong led 17-0 at the break after a conversion from Stephanie Chan. Aggie Poon Pak-yan added a try to extend the lead to 22-0 before Thailand scored and converted at the final whistle.

The challenge mounted for Hong Kong in its final pool match of the day against top seeds and Asian Games champions Japan.

Hong Kong had a solid opening half, and while primarily playing behind the ball, managed to keep its defensive structures intact to limit Japan to a 7-0 lead after five minutes. Japan turned on the jets in the waning minutes of the half, and aided by a yellow card against Chan Tsz-ching in the sixth minute, added two more scores before the whistle as they took a 19-0 lead into the break.

Japan added a try to start the second half to push their lead to 24-0 before Hong Kong returned to full strength after the sin-bin. Poon clawed a try back for Hong Kong in the 13th minute with a great individual effort, creating space with an impressive fend, before sprinting 60-metres for the score. Poon’s conversion cut the deficit to 24-7 but a try at the hooter brought the final total to 31-7.

Hong Kong coach Kevin West said that unforced errors were ultimately the difference against Japan:

“They were small errors, but small things can turn games. We had two tackles against Japan where we reached with arms. If we had executed those with chop tackles like we did against Thailand earlier, the game would have been on a knife’s edge and could have gone either way.

“Those small things are hugely important and it comes down to a matter of consistency for us, and being consistent in our processes regardless of the opposition. But it’s a tournament and not one match. There’s still another game for us tomorrow in the pool and our goal is to beat Korea.

“We are after three quality performances together tomorrow; performances where we execute our processes every single time. If we can do that then the results will follow,” he added.

West was pleased to have had a chance to integrate returning campaigners Sham Wai-sum and Colleen Tjosvold into the squad after both missed out on the Asian Games. Their return, and the debut of Maggie Au Yeung Sin-yi, gives West a deep bench for tomorrow’s run.

“We were able to get everyone a run and they all added something today. Everyone is on the same page and has a clear idea of what we need to do and what we are trying to execute.

“Maggie looked very relaxed and is dealing with the occasion well. Every game she learns more and it’s so important for us to be building that depth. She’s one of three newer players along with Stephanie and Vivian [Chan], all of whom are performing, which is great for us,” said West.

The men cleared their opening hurdle against Malaysia with room to spare, running out 54-0 winners before coming up against a South Korean side absent of most of the names from its Asian Games squad and as such the result was never in question as Hong Kong ran out easy 61-0 winners.

At the end of the opening day, Hong Kong is atop the pool with a final match against the Philippines tomorrow to round out the preliminaries. But after an easier than expected first day, coach Paul John is wary of a potential banana skin match tomorrow.

“We knew when we saw the sides that turned up that they are different teams compared to the Asian Games. Korea is certainly different from that semi-final in Jakarta.”

“So we knew it would be a bit different this weekend, but tomorrow we play the Philippines and they look quite physical as they normally are. Sri Lanka look like they normally do and we could end up crossing over against them in the semi finals, while Japan have also brought a good side.”

John was pleased with the way his side maintained its form throughout the day despite the big margins.

“Sometimes you can try and force it against teams like that when there is no need, but I was pleased with the way the boys played. We didn’t take anyone lightly and scored over 100 points, but we haven’t been tested as much I would have liked, which is always a bit of a concern. This competition you go straight into knockout so you have to be ready, but we know what we need to do tomorrow,” John added.

The women’s last pool match is against South Korea at 11.06 on the 15 September, while the men will play the Philippines at 12.12.

Asia Rugby Sevens Series
Date: 14-15 September, 2018
Venue: HK Football Club
Tickets: tbc

Additional reporting and images: HK rugby

HK Beat UAE to Qualify for Asia Cup

In a rain-affected final of the Asia Cup Qualifier 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong beat the United Arab Emirates by two wickets (DLS method) to book their place in the Asia Cup.

A fine five-for from Aizaz Khan first helped Hong Kong restrict UAE to 176/9 in 24 overs, the innings affected by a long rain break, before Hong Kong found enough contributors right through their chase to get to their revised target of 179 with three balls left.

Hong Kong captain Anshuman Rath won the toss and elected to bowl first in the cloudy and humid conditions. A bigly game for both teams with the winners guaranteed a place in the Asia Cup – in the group with Pakistan and India.

The UAE innings – a two-part affair, of 15.2 overs first and then 8.4 overs, broken by a long interruption because of rain and a wet outfield – started well with the opening pair of Ashfaq and Suri negating the early movement making their way past 50 in the first 12 overs.

Tanwir Afzal made the initial breakthrough with an excellent delivery hitting the top of off stump to dismiss Suri leaving UAE 52-1. Aizaz Khan was bought into the attack and had made an immediate impression dismissing the UAE captain Mustafa for an 8 ball duck and Shahzad for 2 before play was halted for almost 4 hours with UAE on 65-3 off 15.2 overs.

The rain delay saw the match reduced to 24 overs per side. After the restart Ashfaq and Anwar attacked the Hong Kong bowlers with a number of boundaries struck with Ehsan Khan being targeted on a flat Kinrara wicket. Nadeem Ahmed made the breakthrough dismissing Anwar for 22 and Ashfaq who top scored with 79. A flurry of wickets and boundaries saw UAE through to 176-9 off their allotted 24 overs. Aizaz Khan was magnificent in taking 5-28 to lead the seam attack on a flat batting wicket.

Hong Kong, with the benefit of knowing their target and the number of overs at their disposal, started well with Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath, two of their most pedigreed batsmen. The two added 64 runs in just six overs to put Hong Kong in front before Rohan Mustafa had Nizakat’s number, sending him back for a 20-ball 38.

Then followed a good phase for UAE as Babar Hayat and Kinchit Shah followed Nizakat to the pavilion to leave the scoreboard reading 68/3, which became 82/4 in the 10th over when Ahmed Raza bowled Rath for 28.

The UAE were in front at that stage, but Christopher Carter (33 in 32 balls) and Ehsan Khan (29 in 24) made sure the game was back on an even keel with a 53-run stand for the fifth wicket. A dramatic game took another turn when Carter was run out and Mohammad Naveed struck twice in one over to leave Hong Kong at a precarious 147/7.

The closer the Hong Kong team got to the target the more the drama unfolded. Ehsan Khan and Aizaz Khan departed with 33 still needed and. The experienced duo of Tanwir Afzal and Scott McKechnie came together and played with a great deal of courage and experience to continue to whittle away at the target. The danger man for UAE (Naveed) returned to bowl his final over with the game in the balance. A full blooded pull for 6 by Afzal was followed by an audacious scoop over fine leg by McKechnie to leave 12 runs required with 12 balls remaining.

The dismissal of Afzal off the last ball of the 23rd over left Hong Kong needing 3 to win off the final 6 balls with 2 wickets remaining. The first ball offered the chance of a run out at the non-strikers end which was missed…… 2 off 5 needed. McKechnie looking to finish with glory missed his pull shot but scampered a single to 3rd Man…… 1 off 4 needed. The winning run saw the batsman scamper through for a bye after the keeper fumbled the ball standing back… Hong Kong win by 2 wickets with 3 balls remaining and qualify for the Asia Cup!

Hong Kong will now prepare for their Asia Cup opener against Pakistan, to be played in Dubai on 16 September, followed by the fixture against India, also in Dubai, on 18 September.

Hong Kong captain Anshuman Rath, acknowledged UAE’s efforts “The UAE batsmen batted tremendously well after the rain delay. To get that many runs in 10 overs is no joke on any ground. The momentum was with them, but we knew it was a good wicket. Games like that can go either way, so credit to UAE for playing such an awesome game. We knew we had the batting firepower to chase it down, and luckily that happened.”

UAE’s coach, Dougie Brown, was understandably very disappointed at the result. He said: “Gutted doesn’t even come close to describing the feeling right now. I think the guys deserve a hell of a lot of credit for the way they fought. We didn’t get everything right. We maybe didn’t bowl as well as we can do. We maybe didn’t field quite as well as we know we can, but to get into the position we did, to get into the position where we had the total to defend we ended up with, was a phenomenal effort. Credit to Hong Kong, they won some critical moments in a game of very fine margins.”

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket, ICC

Hong Kong Lose World Cup 7s Opener

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

Hong Kong Head to Rugby 7s World Cup

Hong Kong heads to the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens this weekend. The San Francisco tournament has a slightly different format in that it’s a straight knockout – there are no pool games. Lose and you go home!

Ok that’s not strictly true as in the early games lose and you drop from the Cup to the Bowl/Challenge… It puts teams in a ‘must win’ mode from the first kick-off on Friday when Hong Kong face off against Russia in their first match.

Captain Ben Rimene, fullback Jamie Hood, scrumhalf Cado Lee Ka-to, flanker Toby Fenn and wings Salom Yiu Kam-shing and Max Denmark all return to action after shutting out the Cook Islands in the fifteen-a-side Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification series decider thirteen days ago.

To ease the transition back into sevens, head coach Paul John, who coached Wales to the world title in Dubai in 2009, arranged a training match with Wales earlier this week. Hong Kong also played in the Amsterdam Sevens and Algarve Sevens earlier this summer as a build up for the world championships.

“It was always going to be a full year for a lot of the players; what with World Cup qualification, the Sevens World Cup, the Asian Games, the Asian Sevens series, and now the final stage of the World Cup repechage upcoming. We knew this was going to be the case,” said John.

“There’s a lot going on, which is exciting for Hong Kong Rugby, but a bit tricky at times. We’ve worked closely with Leigh Jones and the fifteens programme in looking at what takes priority at which times, while trying to maintain our own processes.”

“The boys have done well to get here and it is a great opportunity for us to be in the World Cup. We want to do ourselves justice,” added John.

Three of Hong Kong’s younger elite sevens programme members, Eric Kwok Pak-na, Liam Herbert and Alessandro Nardoni, are in the squad for the World Cup where Nardoni and Herbert will win their first senior sevens caps.

“This is an incredible tournament to be a part of and gives our newer boys an opportunity to play on the big stage. I think if we can relax a bit out there this weekend, they can show a bit of what they have to offer,” John said.

Herbert, Kwok and Nardoni impressed the selectors in Europe earlier this summer according to John. “Liam went away with us to Shandong earlier this year and performed well there. He backed that up in the two tournaments in Europe. He has really impressed in training and has worked really hard,” John continued.

“Alessandro also had two good tournaments in Europe. He has been in the programme for a while but hasn’t had the opportunity to play. He has it this week. Eric’s another player, like Ali, who has just missed out on selection over the last 12 months. He played well when given the opportunity in Europe and he deserves to have a go.”

Two players, former U20s captain Hugo Stiles and experienced campaigner Lee Jones, make welcome returns from injury in the time for the World Cup.

“Hugo is looking like his old self, he is a bit of a livewire as usual. He is really looking forward to it and I’m sure it is nice for him to be back playing at full fitness. He has looked good at training and we are excited to see how he performs.”

“Lee has worked really hard to come back from an Achilles injury in Singapore in 2017. He’s trained well and played well in Shandong and Europe and it is going to be good to have him back,” John added.

Jones and fellow forwards Fenn and Michael Coverdale will be essential in what is expected to be a physical challenge from Russia.

“Russia are a settled team and a World Series team and that makes them a hard prospect. They have threats all over the park from an aggressive running point of view. They are powerful and they will be direct against us, I’m sure,” said John.

“We need to use possession wisely and take our opportunities. We need to finish every possession with as many positives as possible. If we take care of the ball, we will be in with a fighting chance, but it won’t be easy.”

“Hopefully the newer guys can relax and learn from being on this stage, it will be a great development for tournaments that we have coming up,” John added.

The squad is targeting a finish in the upper bracket, which means that they must overcome Russia.

“Before we came we discussed our main objective – to win that first game. That will put us through to the top half or two-thirds of the tournament where we will be playing against the World Series teams, which will be a great preparation for us for the Asian Games.

“If we route to the bottom eight, then our objective is to win a few games and try to reach the higher end of the competition. If we lose, we cross over with Jamaica or France I think; Jamaica have a lot of athletes here and France are on the Series, so it is still playing countries that we need to and want to test ourselves against.

“Sevens is getting more and more difficult, so no matter where we are in the tournament, it will be 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.

Hong Kong Men’s Sevens Squad (Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018)
Ben Rimene (Captain), Salom Yiu Kam-shing, Cado Lee Ka-to, Lee Jones, Toby Fenn, Hugo Stiles, Liam Herbert, Eric Kwok Pak-na, Jamie Hood, Alessandro Nardoni, Michael Coverdale, Max Denmark.

Additional reporting and images: HKRU

Cook Islands 3-26 Hong Kong @ Rarotonga

In the first ever test match between the two teams, Hong Kong claimed the upper hand in their Rugby world Cup 2019 qualification battle with the Cook Islands after a comprehensive 26-3 win in the home and away play-off.

Hong Kong ranked 21st in the world held the 54th ranked Cook Islands try-less in Rarotonga, allowing the hosts just a single first-half penalty as they took a big step towards November’s repechage tournament in France.

“It was a tough game and that was a hell of a win,” said a delighted Hong Kong coach Leigh Jones after the match. “I don’t get overly excited about things, but I think it was a historic day for Hong Kong. Cook Islands brought everyone back and they have some top quality players in that side but our performance was just outstanding.”

“Ahead of the game, we talked about every point being precious, whether we are giving them away or getting them; so that [holding Cook Islands to a single penalty] was a great credit to the boys. They wanted to keep the clean sheet and they did.” Jones added.

Canada have booked their place in the final four repechage already while Samoa have opened a big lead on Germany in another bracket. The winner of Hong Kong versus Cook Islands will join them and the winners of the Africa qualification campaign next November.

Hong Kong shrugged off the 25-hour travel to the islands as they stormed deep into Cook Islands territory from the kick-off to set up their first try. No. 8 Thomas Lamboley crossed the line in the third minute after a series of well-executed attacking phases on the hosts try line.

Flyhalf Matt Rosslee missed the conversion attempt, he missed all four of Hong Kong’s conversions, but was more accurate on his penalty attempts, slotting tough chances on either side of half time.

Hong Kong extended their lead in the 12th minute when Jack Neville took a sneaky reverse pass from centre Lex Kalecka. Cutting against the defence Neville’s run and pass put scrumhalf Liam Slatem clear in the corner, 10-0.

The Cook Islands scored their only points of the game with a penalty after Nick Hewson was penalised for sealing off the tackler on the ground. Centre Greg Mullany’s kick putting the hosts on the board, 10-3 after 23 minutes.

Moments later winger Conor Hartley served a perfect pass by Slatem allowing him to stroll across the tramlines for Hong Kong’s third try and a 15-3 lead.

Rosslee closed out the first half with a successful penalty to send Hong Kong into the break up 18-3.

Throughout the first period Hong Kong regularly exploited overlaps in the Cook Islands defence, with all of their tries coming out wide, as the forwards penetrated the hosts midfield defence, luring defenders in from the flanks to create space for the backs.

The Cook Islands put in an improved showing in the second half, aided by a swirling wind that hampered Hong Kong in the final stages.

“You couldn’t see it on TV, but there was a really strong wind and that was why it looked like it was a game of two halves,” said Jones. “It was very difficult for us to get out of our half in the second half, largely because of the wind.”

Rosslee scored Hong Kong’s first points of the second half with a second penalty to push the lead to 21-3.

The visitors added a fourth try late in the game when Max Woodward, who moments earlier had accounted for a try-saving tackle, finished off some great interplay with winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing by crossing over in the left corner.

“It was a very physical game, we were expecting that. They are a big, big side and it was a very physical out there. We have a few battered and bruised, but so have they,” said Jones.

“If we are going to get to where we want to get, we have to cope with opposition and teams like that. Today’s result shows that we are progressing and are able to cope at that next level,” said Jones.

Both sides will now journey back to Hong Kong and Jones is curious to see what the opposition’s selection will look like. “It will be interesting to see what their travel party will look like and whether some of their big names travel, but it will be a similar approach for us. It’s cup rugby and we don’t need to be too flamboyant. We just need to do what it says on the tin and play good solid, percentage rugby.”

Hong Kong v Cook Islands:
James Cunningham (Captain), Daniel Barlow, Dylan Rogers, Jack Delaforce, Nicholas Hewson, Toy Fenn, Thomas Lamboley, Liam Slatem, Matthew Rosslee, Yiu Kam-shing, Max Woodward, Jack Neville, Conor Hartley, Jamie Hood, Alexander Post, Adam Fullgrabe, Jack Parfitt, Michael Parfitt, Kane Boucaut, Cris Pierrepont, Jamie Lauder, Max Denmark, Benjamin Roberts, Lex Kaleca.

Additional reporting and images: HKRU