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Scallywag Stumbles As Mapfre Win Alicante In-port Race

Local boat Xabi Fernández’s Mapfre were a popular winner in the first point scoring race of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race.

Fernández and his team made a bold call at the start to duck behind the entire fleet in order to sail up what turned out to be the favoured right hand side of the course, coming from behind to earn a narrow lead at the first gate.

“It was pretty clear from Joan (Vila) and Rob (Greenhalgh) that we wanted to hit the right side of the course in the first upwind looking for more breeze,” explained Fernández. “Our intention was to start on port but Pablo (Arrarte) saw the gap himself when Brunel did a poor tack and they couldn’t accelerate so we want for the cross and we had plenty of room and once we hit the right everything went well.”

Mapfre sailed away to establish a lead of nearly one-minute at the bottom gate, giving them a lead they would enjoy the rest of the way.

“The truth is it hasn’t been an easy race but we took a bit of a risk at the start,” Fernández said after the finish. “We saw the gap in front of Brunel and we went for it. Everything went really well.”

In fact, the Spanish team sailed a flawless race, in terms of strategy and execution, and were never threatened after grabbing the lead at the first mark.

But behind them, it was a hard-fought race. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag was strong on the first leg, but dropped back over the course of the race. In contrast, Dongfeng Race Team fought up the fleet to grab second place, battling with Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Team Brunel who were trading places throughout the race.

“There was a lot of action! Mapfre played their own game alone but behind them, we had a big fight for second place. It’s good, it’s good,” said skipper Charles Caudrelier on Dongfeng Race Team.

“We showed how we can sail well, after having not such good results in the last few days. It’s great that we managed to come back and get this result.”

“It was a very exciting first In-Port Race for us,” said Charlie Enright, the skipper of Vestas 11th Hour Racing. “They’re always really close. You know, when you’re racing these 65-foot canting keel boats around a one-mile track it gets interesting, with a lot of exchanges and big headsails and a lot of grinding. We did some good things and some bad things and got third place. All in all, not a bad way to start the campaign.”

“I had a bad start and that put us on the back foot,” said Bouwe Bekking the skipper of Team Brunel. “But we sailed the boat very nicely. All in all, we’re pretty happy with how we sailed today.”

Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag made a late gain to grab fifth over team AkzoNobel with Turn the Tide on Plastic never recovering from a poor first leg.

“It was okay. Fifth’s not great but it was okay. We were second at the top but we just made one mistake on the first run and it cost us. Basically, it was good. Amazing to be racing here in Alicante,” said David Witt, the skipper of Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag.

Volvo Ocean In-Port Race Alicante Provisional Results

Position	Team	Elapsed Time	Points
1	MAPFRE	54:38	7
2	Dongfeng Race Team	56:06	6
3	Vestas 11th Hour Racing	56:54	5
4	Team Brunel	57:13	4
5	Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag	58:07	3
6	team AkzoNobel	58:31	2
7	Turn the Tide on Plastic	59:39	1

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Pedro Martinez, Ainhoa Sanchez

Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Sri Lanka

Hong Kong’s men and women enter the final round of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Sri Lanka needing strong performances to qualify for next year’s Rugby World Cup Sevens.

A new-look women’s side featuring four changes will take on Japan, Sri Lanka and South Korea in pool play.

Debutants Jessica Ho Wai-on, Agnes Chan Tsz-ching and Poon Hoi-yan all come in to the side, as well as the returning Sham Wai-sum, replacing Au Yeung Sin-yi, Steph Chan Chor-ki, Lindsay Varty and Yuen Lok-yee.

After a condensed build-up due to the Women’s Rugby World Cup, Richards admits her side are still underdone but are better positioned than in the first round of the women’s competition in South Korea three weeks ago.

“The girls have been training pretty well so we are looking forward to it,” she said. “The first leg was pretty difficult and we didn’t have a great lead into that; I think the girls are more comfortable in the sevens environment now

“Are we sevens fit? Probably not, but the girls have trained well since we came back. What I liked about the first tournament was that we got a good look at the top three so we will be going into this tournament better for that.”

Richards is looking forward to having Sham back in the side and is excited to see World Cup representatives Ho and Chan, as well as the youngster Poon, in action: “I thought [Agnes] played really well at the World Cup so it will be great to see what she can do on the field for us.”

Japan are leading the men’s competition and are the likely winners, while Korea sit two points ahead of Hong Kong after triumphing on home soil three weeks ago with Hong Kong had settling for third.

It means Hong Kong must finish at least two places above South Korea this weekend or things will be awfully tight.

“If we don’t play Korea and don’t win the tournament, then we need to finish two places above them,” coach Paul John said. “We need to play Korea at some point, whoever wins that game will be ahead in the head to head. The bottom line is that if we do really well and win the tournament we will be okay, if we meet Korea along the way that will help us provided we get a positive result from it.

Hong Kong face Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines in pool play, with South Korea and Sri Lanka awaiting on the other side of the draw.

“It means that we get a really good game on day one [against Japan] and depending on what happens at the end of day one is where we cross over,” John said. “It all depends on how the tournament goes and with sevens you can never really predict it so every game is a massive game for us now to put us in a good position for day two.

“Sri Lanka will be stronger being at home and China gave us a difficult game at the end of the tournament last time.”

Debutant Max Denmark comes into the side after recently figuring for the Hong Kong U20s at the World Rugby Junior Trophy. Denmark replaces Fong Kit-fung, who sustained an ankle injury in the last round, in what is the only change to John’s squad.

“Max has been training with us for the last three or four weeks,” John said. “He’s very quick and he’s played wings for the under 20s, he’s a back-row forward as well as playing wing. He gives us a bit of speed out wide and I’m looking forward to watching him play. He’s powerful and he chases kick-offs really well, so it’s exciting for him.”

additional reporting, images: hkru

Volvo Ocean Race First In-port Race Featuring Hong Kong’s Scallywag

The first official racing of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race takes place on the 14 October with the first In-Port race in the start port of Alicante.

Who will win the first points scoring event of the race? The start gun is at 14:00 local time (12:00 UTC) as seven of the best sailing teams in the world push hard to lay down a marker ahead of the main race start.

“You always go out and want to win,” said Bouwe Bekking, skipper of Team Brunel, who will have Alberto (Albi) Bolzan on the helm for the race. “He’s an excellent helmsman. He has a lot of hours driving these boats but he’s also one of the smaller guys on board and it’s important to have power on the winches for these in-port races.”

“I think the most important thing for the in-port race is to treat it as practice for the race start for the offshore leg,” said Charles Caudrelier, speaking from experience after starting behind the fleet on the Prologue leg. “Even on the long legs, the start is important… it helps the team to be confident to get the lead early.”

“A lot of the sailors on our team come from short course racing,” said Dee Caffari the skipper on Turn the Tide on Plastic. “So they get a real buzz out of this. They’re all over this style of racing. I have to remind them that a Volvo Ocean 65 takes a bit longer to manoeuvre and we can’t go as close to the other boats as they’re used to, so I have to manage expectations a bit!”

The In-Port Race Alicante is two laps of a windward-leeward course, set with a target time of 45-minutes. The course is set up with a gate system, with two top (windward) marks and two bottom (leeward) marks.

In Friday’s practice session, MAPFRE took the win over Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag, who impressed with their best showing, and Vestas 11th Hour Racing, who took third place, completing the podium.

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo Ocean Race Prologue Offers Final Tune-up Ahead of Start

The seven Volvo Ocean Race skippers will have a final oppourtunity to tune their boats on the Prologue Leg, a non-scoring race to the start port of Alicante, Spain. It’s a last chance for teams to lock in crew configurations and get in some speed testing against the competition ahead of the start of Leg 1 on October 22.

“This is the last opportunity for all of the boats to face each other before we start,” says Mark Towill of Vestas 11th Hour Racing. “We’ll be lining up against the other teams to check the things we’ve learned during testing compared to the rest of the fleet.”

Towill and his team have been training against team AkzoNobel. The Dutch team’s Luke Molloy spoke of the benefit from the sessions.

“The two boat training sessions we did with Vestas 11th Hour Racing were definitely very valuable and actually quite eye opening in a few areas,” he confirms. “Just to check on some of our sail crossovers and lock down what we think we know in some other performance areas.”

Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari says she’ll be giving some of her crew who have less offshore miles time on board during the Prologue, as her team makes the transition from training to competition.

“It’s an opportunity to get back into race mode,” she says. “It’s almost a practice of Leg 1, because we’re going from Lisbon to Alicante and that’s going to be the reverse for Leg 1 so it’s nice to suss it out.”

Leg Zero,SHK Onboard,. Video by Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race. 21July,2017..Onboard sailing action

Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, disappointed with its results this summer during Leg Zero, will be racing with some new crew members and navigator Steve Hayles says the team will be looking to bed in improvements made during practice over the past month.

“I think (on Leg Zero) everything was sub-par, so this is a good chance to put into effect everything we’ve been doing since. We’ve been sailing hard, we’ve done at least as many miles as anyone else, and so this is a good opportunity to cement those changes. Nothing is as good a measure of where you stand as going racing and hopefully we’ve made a big step up in our team performance.”

Rob Greenhalgh, about to embark with the Spanish team MAPFRE on his fifth Volvo Ocean Race, is looking forward to this final look at the opposition.

“It’s pretty important. Everyone’s going to be keen to check in,” he says. “We’ll be keen to race properly… we won’t be backed off. We’ll be going for it!”

Dongfeng Racing team director Bruno Dubois will see his team leave the dock in Lisbon satisfied they have done what they need to do to be ready to race by the start of Leg 1.

“My objective was to make sure we put everything in place and didn’t leave anything to chance,” Dubois explains. “We made a plan and we’ve stayed to it. Maybe someone is going to head out in Leg 1 and be very fast, but we’ve done what we needed to do to make our boat ready and fast for the start of the race. After that, well, it’s a long race.”

Dongfeng Race Team goes sailing in their re-fitted Volvo Ocean 65 as they begin training for the 2017-18 edition.

The weather forecast offers a mixed bag that will get the wrinkles out of all the new sails the teams have installed in Lisbon. The boats will race upwind through the Gibraltar Straight early on Tuesday morning against the infamous Levanter easterly wind that could accelerate to over 30kts, all while penned in by a narrow coast, heavy shipping exclusion zones and coastal fishing nets. Forced into a 1.5-mile wide channel, skippers will be balancing the desire to push for a good result in their last warm-up versus the need to protect new sails that need to last 45,000 miles around the world.

Bouwe Bekking, the skipper of Team Brunel, was very candid about placing a priority on protecting his equipment.

“It’s about finding that balance between pushing the boat, getting it ready, and putting the least amount of hours on the new sails,” he says. “If there is a lot of wind, we’ll want to save our sails… that’s just what we have to do.”

After the Straights, the fleet will continue upwind through the Alboran Sea along the south Spanish coast in an uncomfortable sea state created by fresh easterlies running over the permanent eastwards current created by the Atlantic flowing into the Mediterranean. Turning northwards by Cabo de Gata, the wind is expected to drop to just 5 knots from the east, pushing the homecoming in the Alicante race village deep into Wednesday evening.

“We heard all the stories about how the Race Village in Alicante is nearly ready and everyone is waiting for us to arrive,” Caffari says. “And I know from the moment we arrive, the circus begins and it is pretty much non-stop. The time will fly by and we’ll be crossing that start line and heading away from Alicante for Leg 1 in no time.”

Follow the prologue at www.volvooceanrace.com.

Images: Benoit Stichelbaut/Dongfeng Race Team; Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race

Women’s East Asia Cup 2017

Hong Kong will host the Women’s East Asia Cup featuring the hosts, Japan, China and Korea from September 21-24. HK Cricket have announced a 14 woman squad for the tournament which includes debutant Bella Poon.

The team, led by all-rounder Mariko Hill, is looking to improve on it’s performance in last year’s World Cup qualifiers where they squandered some good positions. The East Asia Cup serves as an important part of the squads build-up to the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifiers in November.

Coach Richie Waite has been putting the players through their paces over the summer and is in confident mood ahead of the tournament. The squad has been doing extra conditioning sessions said Waite “Players have been put through skill set sessions. We have made good progress over the last 2 months and go into the tournament with only a winning mentality.”

“It gives us an opportunity to test ourselves and I am looking forward to seeing them translate their hard work into first-class performances on the pitch.”

As for the squad, Waite said the selectors had tried to ensure it well-rounded “The squad gives us good options across all disciplines, Mariko shows great leadership on and off the field and is determined to lead this squad forward. Our preparation for the upcoming tournament has been very good.”

Hong Kong East Asia Cup Squad:
Mariko Hill (Capt), Kary Chan (Vice-Capt), Jenefer Davies, Emma Lai, Shanzeen Shahzad, Yasmin Daswani, Keenu Gill, Natural Yip, Ka Man (Betty) Chan, Ruchi Venketesh, Pull To, Chan Sa Ha, Annie Ho, Bella Poon

Women’s East Asia Cup 2017
Date: 21-24 September, 2017
Venue: HKCC, KCC, Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free
More info:
21 Sept – HKCC
22 Sept – KCC
23-24 Sept – Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground

WRWC: Hong Kong 5 Japan 44

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Hong Kong lost 44-5 to Japan in their final game at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Belfast. The Sakura putting on a clinical offensive display scoring eight tries, with the first coming after just 82 seconds.

Despite enjoying significant amounts of possession, Hong Kong struggled with its accuracy, particularly in a nervy first quarter, as unforced errors, turnovers and knock-ons blunted their attacking edge.

Meanwhile, Japan managed to turn almost all of their five first half turnovers into points, including scoring two tries in the opening 12 minutes as they leapt out to a 10-0 lead.

Strong defensive efforts by Natasha Olson-Thorne in particular, who turned Japan over three times in the first half, kept Hong Kong in touch for the remainder of the first period, but Japan managed to add a momentum-sapping try shortly before the break, 15-0 at half-time.

Hong Kong steeled its nerve and gained parity over the course of the match, but as in previous matches never really threatened to break down the well-disciplined and organised Japan defence.

Japan clinched the match early in the second half, after an unforced error at the restart gifted Japan possession. Moments later Shimizu crossed the line for her second and Japan’s fourth try as they extended their advantage to 20-0.

Hooker Karen So put Hong Kong on the board in the 52nd minute with a fine individual effort. So came off the bench to put the ball into an attacking lineout on Japan’s five-metre line. Cool under pressure, So’s throw was on target for captain Chow Mei-nam who claimed possession and drove Hong Kong to the Japan try-line.

After a succession of phases, So collected the ball at the base of the ruck and leaped over the pile to score Hong Kong’s only points.

Simple errors on attack and defence were a consistent problem for Hong Kong, who missed 19 tackles and conceded 16 turnovers. Not all of which were the result of Japanese pressure, the errors a part of but not the only reason that the squad failed to achieve it’s ambition of a first win at the World Cup.

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With their first win at a World Cup in sight, the Sakura gathered steam in the final quarter, adding four more tries and two conversions, final score 44-5.

Hong Kong’s first World Cup ended without a win, but with plenty of victories along the way according to captain Chow Mei-nam. “It was our first time in the World Cup and we wanted to create a legacy. We did that with our toughness and never give-up attitude.”

“We are very proud and happy to represent Hong Kong and the crowd was behind us all of the way. Many of our supporters traveled a very long way to come watch us, and many more people were watching at home. With their continued support we can keep playing better,” added Chow.

Additional reporting, images: HKRugby

Women’s Rugby World Cup Final: England v New Zealand Preview

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The two most successful teams in Women’s Rugby World Cup history will lock horns for the fourth time in the final. bc previews what should be an epic match and the rest of the action on the final day in Belfast.

England are the defending champions, but have never beaten New Zealand on the World Cup stage, losing one semi-final and three finals between 1998 and 2010.

The Red Roses did win the most recent meeting between the sides, scoring five tries in a 29-21 win over New Zealand in the International Women’s Rugby Series in June.

However, the Black Ferns have never lost a World Cup final and are eager to keep that sequence going by avenging that loss on home soil two months ago with victory at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.

The final day of action gets underway at 12:00 local time (GMT+1) with the 11th place play-off between Japan and Hong Kong at Queen’s University, followed by the ninth place play-off between Spain and Italy and the battle for fifth between Australia and Canada. Ireland and Wales will kick-off proceedings at Kingspan Stadium at 14:00, before France meet USA in the bronze final.

Attention will then turn to the final with the winner to not only hold aloft the coveted trophy, but also occupy the number one spot in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings when they update on Monday.

Final: England v New Zealand

The wait is nearly over for the latest chapter in the World Cup story of England v New Zealand and the kick-off can’t come soon enough for fans around the world that have seen the two teams progress to a fourth title decider.

It is England’s fifth successive appearance in the final, while New Zealand have been on a mission to banish the disappointment of failing to reach the semi-finals three years ago and lifting the trophy is the only thing that will do that for the players involved in France.

For New Zealand captain Fiao’o Faamausili it would be a remarkable end to a career that has already seen her win three World Cups. But such is her humility the hooker is not focusing on that personal target but rather the chance to give her younger team-mates that victorious feeling and ensure she leaves a legacy that will continue for years to come.

The Black Ferns have certainly lit up Ireland 2017 with their attacking play and boast the leading try scorer in Portia Woodman, who has crossed for 13 tries so far, including four in the semi-fiinal win over USA. Woodman, though, isn’t the only threat in a team that has scored 42 tries and racked up 258 points in four matches and England captain Sarah Hunter is only too aware of what lies ahead.

“They have got a strong pack that will want to give their backs some good front-foot ball to play off and I think that is really key, if they can get some good clean quality ball then we have seen their backs and how their backs have lit up the tournament,” admitted Hunter, who played in England’s WRWC 2010 loss to New Zealand and the success against Canada in 2014.

“Their half-backs are really smart and make really good decisions and their back three, if you give them time and space with the ball they will exploit it and they will be under the sticks before you know it. We know we are going to have to be really clear and clinical with everything that we do to not give them any loose ball to play with.

“To be the best you have got to play the best whoever that may be and the fact that New Zealand are in the World Cup final that means that they are (the best).”

England have suffered a blow with full-back Danielle Waterman ruled out of what would have been her fourth final due to concussion suffered against France in the semi-finals. As a result, Emily Scarratt drops back to full-back with Megan Jones stepping in to the vacated outside centre position.

New Zealand, by contrast have named an unchanged starting line-up for the third match in a row, one that has seen off the challenges of Canada (48-5) and USA (45-12).

“It is definitely going to be a tough challenge, it is finals rugby,” admitted Faamausili. “You have got two top teams battling against each other. It is not like we haven’t played each other before but we will definitely be two teams going out there to make sure that one team is winning the World Cup.”

“This is something we have been working hard towards and it has finally come and we can’t wait to get out there on Saturday. It is definitely there, that motivation (to avenge the June defeat) but to play any team in the World Cup final you are always going to be motivated because you want your team to be the one that comes out on top and it is not just for yourselves, it is for everyone back home and for all those new players that have never experienced a final before.”

A sentiment echoed by New Zealand coach Glenn Moore: “A World Cup final is what we’ve all had our sights on for a long time. Everything we’ve done in the past two years has led to this,” insisted Moore. “We feel comfortable that we’ve done the work and we’ve selected a very good side. We also have a strong bench who will make an impact.”

“You’re going to see the two best teams in the world really go at it. I’m excited to see our team play and I am so proud of them.”

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Bronze Final: France v USA

It’s the match that France and USA didn’t want to be involved in on the final day, but after their title dreams were ended by England and New Zealand respectively, both have to pick themselves up to challenge for the bronze medal at Ireland 2017.

France have found themselves in this predicament on seven occasions so are no strangers to the bronze final, while USA are first-timers after tasting victory in their first three semi-finals from 1991-98.

Both coaches have taken the opportunity to make a number of changes to their starting line-ups with Samuel Cherouk welcoming back outstanding flanker Romane Menager after she sat out the semi-final loss to England with concussion. She will start against the Women’s Eagles, though, at number eight with Safi N’Diaye dropping to the bench.

The only other change to Les Bleues’ pack is the return of Lise Arricastre at loose-head prop, while the backline shows four changes with Jade Le Pesq stepping in to partner Caroline Drouin at half-back, Carla Neisen joining Elodie Poublan in the centres and Camille Grassineau and Caroline Boujard named on the wings.

“If we are good in attack, if we are able to keep the ball, I think there will be areas where we can play and upset them,” said France manager Annick Hayraud. “They are powerful, very fast. We need to go and get them, not let them come and get us. They are not in this match by chance. It will be a great challenge for them to play for the bronze final.”

Captain Gaëlle Mignot added: “They’ve qualified for the semi-finals and played strongly against New Zealand. We expect a tough match because they also want to finish the tournament on a winning note and it has been a long time since USA were in the last four. It’s going to be one of our biggest matches.”

Kayla Canett will make her first start of the tournament for USA at fly-half, replacing the experienced Kimber Rozier who is unavailable for the final game, in an otherwise unchanged backline. The other two changes made by coach Pete Steinberg from their first semi-final since 1998 come in the forwards with prop Hope Rogers and back-row Abby Gustaitis given a starting role, the latter’s inclusion resulting in a switch across to openside flanker for Sara Parsons.

“We’ve lost a couple of players through injury, but that gives other players a chance to step up. Kayla Canett is going to get her first play at 10, which is her natural position and we’re excited to see her there,” said Steinberg. “And it gives some of our other players who’ve been eager to compete a chance to step out and compete, so we’re excited to do that.

“We know what we need to do against France. We need to have solid set pieces, we need to hold onto the ball in contact, and we need to apply pressure on defence with some good line speed. We feel like if we can do that, we’re able to compete. Our goal has always been to play our best game in the fifth game of the World Cup, and I think we’re ready to do that.”

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Fifth Place Play-off: Australia v Canada

The pressure is off Australia and Canada with their qualification for WRWC 2021 confirmed by their semi-final wins over Ireland and Canada, but both will want to finish the tournament on a high with fifth place.

Canada comfortably beat Australia (45-5) when the sides met in the International Women’s Rugby Series back in June, but they will be taking nothing for granted against an Australian side which impressively brushed hosts Ireland aside 36-24 to confirm a top six finish.

Coach Francois Ratier welcomes back prop Daleaka Menin, winger Magali Harvey and Alex Tessier to the starting line-up, the latter this time getting the nod at fly-half with Emily Belchos shifting out a position to form a new centre partnership with Amanda Thornborough. The other positional change sees Elissa Alarie, who scored two tries in the 52-0 defeat of Wales, switches across to the left wing to accommodate the return of Harvey.

“We were happy with the performance against Wales, getting back to a performance where we can score a lot of points and where our defence and set pieces can be solid. We’re in a pretty good spot and hopefully we’re going to end on a high,” said assistant coach Shaun Allen.

“Just from (Australia’s) performance at the World Cup, we’ve seen massive improvements in what they have been able to do since the New Zealand series. They’re very physical and very direct in terms of what they do on the attack. It’s going to be a good test for our defence and our ability to tackle them. They have some weapons around the field and we’re going to have to do a good job of identifying them and shutting them down.”

Australia coach Paul Verrell has, unsurprisingly, named an unchanged starting line-up from that which powered past Ireland to avenge their first-day loss in Dublin. The return of the experienced Ashleigh Hewson at fly-half after her recovery from injury suffered against the Irish was key to the improved performance, working in tandem with captain Sharni Williams to unleash a dangerous backline.

Another aspect of the Wallaroos success against Ireland was the carrying of their props Liz Patu and Hilisha Samoa, who scored a try and was named Aon Player of the Match. Between the two of them, they accounted for more than a quarter of Australia’s carries in the five-try win that ensured an improvement on their seventh place finish in 2014.

“The team’s very positive, they all have a goal they want to achieve,” insisted assistant coach Scott Allen. “It’s not a matter of (thinking) we’ve already achieved something by qualifying for the World Cup and now we can afford to relax. The girls are working towards a target.”

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Seventh Place Play-off: Ireland v Wales

The last direct qualification place for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 awaits the winner of this seventh place play-off between hosts Ireland and Wales.

Ireland edged their most recent encounter 12-7 in the Women’s Six Nations in March and both will be eager to end the tournament on a positive note and avoid having to go through the global qualification process for 2021.

“It’s no secret that we didn’t want to be in this position, but it’s where we have found ourselves on the final weekend, and while we’re disappointed that we’re not competing for higher honours, we want to sign off the competition with a win,” said Ireland coach Tom Tierney.

“It really is a cup final tomorrow, with automatic qualification for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup on the line. It’s been a tough few weeks, but I know that the players really want to put in a performance tomorrow and as they have said, leave the green jersey in a better place.”

Tierney has rung the changes for this final match, two enforced with captain Claire Molloy and centre Jenny Murphy unavailable through concussion. Paula Fitzpatrick takes over the captaincy and also switches from number eight to blindside flanker in a rejigged back-row that sees Heather O’Brien return for her first start since the opening day.

The majority of changes come in a backline with Jeamie Deacon and Katie Fitzhenry forming a new-look centre pairing and Eimear Considine returning to the wing, while Nora Stapleton continues at fly-half for what will be her 50th test for Ireland.

Wales coach Rowland Phillips has made six changes from the side beaten 52-0 by Canada on Tuesday, two of them positional with Elinor Snowsill dropping back from fly-half to full-back to allow Robyn Wilkins to make her first tournament start at 10, while Elen Evans switches wings with Jasmine Joyce coming back into the starting 15.

Keira Bevan gets the nod to start at scrum-half, while Siwan Lillicrap comes. With an eye on the future, Phillips has selected three teenagers on the bench, including centre India Berbillion who is in line to make her international debut after being called up on the eve of the tournament for the injured Rebecca De Filippo.

“There’s huge motivation among this team to finish the tournament on a high,” said Phillips. “We’ve seen a lot of development among the squad, which is gratifying as we look ahead to next year’s Women’s Six Nations and the next Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“We can take inspiration from our first two performances in the pool stage where we troubled two of the best sides in the world in New Zealand and Canada. Equally, we’ll learn important lessons from our second meeting with Canada where a lot of things didn’t go right for us.”

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Ninth Place Play-off: Italy v Spain

The second all-European match on the final day, this is the second time that Spain and Italy have met at Ireland 2017 with Las Leonas running out 22-8 winners in their Pool B encounter on 17 August.

Spain, the higher of the two nations in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings in eighth, will be eager to repeat that result against the country that replaced them in the Six Nations in 2007 so that the women’s competition mirrored the men’s.

“We did not only need victory (against Italy in the pool stages), but also we needed to play our rugby,” admitted Patricia Garcia, who switches from fly-half to outside centre for the encounter at Queen’s University. “Against England and USA we were not able to play, so we needed to have a great match against Italy even if the result was not fantastic. It was good for the confidence of the team and to be able to set up everything we have been working on.

“We beat them in pool stage, but it doesn’t mean we will win again, because they have played very well against Japan. We won against Hong Kong, but we did not play our best rugby. It’s going to be a very different match.”

Spain’s starting 15 is similar to that from the pool match with Italy, Marina Bravo moving to fly-half with Maria Ahis filling the vacated 12 jersey with Amaia Erbina coming onto the right wing. This shows a number of changes from the side which overcame Hong Kong 31-7 on Tuesday, among them the return of captain Aroa Gonzalez who started on the bench that day.

Italy coach Andrea Di Giandomenico has made six changes to his starting line-up, three of them positional, from their 22-0 defeat of Japan earlier this week. Flavia Severin is joined by Valeria Fedrighi in the second-row after Alice Trevisan was ruled out with concussion, while Elisa Giordano moves to openside flanker to accommodate the return of veteran Silvia Gaudino at number eight.

In the backline, Beatrice Rigoni moves from inside-centre back to the fly-half position she occupied in the loss to Spain with Paola Zangirolami filling the void in what will be her last time in the Azzurre jersey.

“We will not treat the match as a rematch,” insisted Di Giandomenico. “It will be crucial to focus only on ourselves. We know what are our potential is and playing at 100 per cent we can put anyone in trouble. Victory against Japan has given us confidence and we want to close the World Cup in the best way possible.”

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Eleventh Place Play-off: Hong Kong v Japan

These two nations know each other very well, Japan having emphatically won their two most recent encounters in the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship in July.

Japan will end a 15-year wait for their second World Cup victory if they can make it three wins this year against the side they also beat 20-8 in the Asia/Oceania qualifying tournament last December.

For Hong Kong, the carrot is even bigger in a first ever World Cup win and coach Jo Hull is eager for her squad to show how far her squad has progressed since losing 58-0 and 60-19 in that Asian competition.

“We are going into this game like it is our World Cup final,” said Hull, who has made a number of changes to her starting 15 for this battle for Asian pride.

“This World Cup we have had an opportunity to measure ourselves against the best in the world and now we have an opportunity to measure ourselves once again against one of the best teams in Asia. Playing Japan gives us a real chance to measure how much we have improved and whether we can come out of the World Cup as the top team in Asia. And that’s a real test of our character, so in that respect it’s great to play against them.

“We massively underperformed against Japan the last time out and now we have a chance to set that straight and the girls are very excited about that opportunity. Japan won’t be underestimating us. They know that we have improved massively over the World Cup and they have as well. Japan has had some really impressive performances against Ireland, Australia and France. They have shown what we have known for a long while; they’re young, talented and play at pace.”

Prop Lau Nga Wun, hooker Royce Chan and number eight Christine Gordon come into the forward pack, while teenager Kelsie Bouttle joins Natasha Olson-Thorne in the centre, necessitating a move back to full-back for Adrienne Garvey, the first Hong Kong player to score any points on the WRWC stage. The only other change see Kwong Sau Yan take her place on the right wing.

For Japan, captain Seina Saito moves from hooker to loose-head prop and is one of four Sakura 15 players to have played every minute of their WRWC 2017 campaign, the others being second-row Ayano Sakurai, flanker Sayaka Suzuki and centre Iroha Nagata. The three other changes see Misaki Suzuki start at hooker with Aoi Mimura coming into the second row and Makiko Tomita returning to action having served her three-match suspension following her red card in the opening loss to France.

Photos: World Rugby, Dan Sheridan, Bryan Keane, Billy Stickland

WRWC: Hong Kong v Japan Match Preview

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Hong Kong look to end their debut at the Women’s Rugby World Cup on a high note with victory against familiar foes Japan, kick-off 7pm Hong Kong time.

The team as a unit and individually all 28 players in Hull’s squad have improved match by match. “We are going into this game like it is our World Cup final,” said Hull from Ireland. “This World Cup we have had an opportunity to measure ourselves against the best in the world and now we have an opportunity to measure ourselves once again against one of the best teams in Asia.”

“Playing Japan gives us a real chance to measure how much we have improved and whether we can come out of the World Cup as the top team in Asia. And that’s a real test of our character, so in that respect it’s great to play against them,” Hull added.

Japan beat Hong Kong heavily across both legs of the Women’s Asia Rugby Championship in July in what was both sides’ final warm-ups for the World Cup. That presents an ideal opportunity for Hull and the squad to benchmark their growth over the past three weeks.

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Hull is asking her squad to give one last massive effort in their fifth game in three weeks at the World Cup. “After Spain, we have made some changes to get some fresh legs back into the squad, including bringing Royce [Chan] and Chrissy [Christine Gordon] in to give us some go-forward.”

“We need an even bigger performance out of the girls at the breakdown than against Spain and we have to be clinical, particularly in eliminating our own errors and improving our tackling,” said Hull.

Hull believes her side is now battle-hardened and that their experience in Ireland has drawn them even closer together. “The girls have been great. It has been a big three weeks for us. They are calm and focused but I can sense a bit more excitement about this game and maybe a bit of emotion as well as it is our last match and the experience here has really been incredible.”

“They want to play, but most of all they want to get that first win together and for each other. They realize there is no second chance now, there is no next game and that is fueling them,” Hull added.

As coach she has been working to hone and channel that energy. “We are not losing our focus. Everything is about consistency. We need to be consistent and clinical. If we make a mistake, Japan will be underneath the posts, so we have got to execute to get the result that they have been working so hard for,” Hull added.

Up front Hull has made three changes with hooker Royce Chan, Hong Kong’s most capped women’s international entering the World Cup, joined by Lau Nga-wun and the ever-reliable Lee Ka-shun in the starting front row. Hull has also retained the lock pairing of Captain Chow Mei-nam and Chan Ka-yan and flankers Christy Cheng Ka-chi and Chan Tsz-chang with Gordon the only change to the back row.

Hull has also kept faith in her starting halfback duo from the Spain test, with scrumhalf Chloe Mak Ho-yee and Rose Hopewell-Fong looking to inject pace into the attack. Emerging star Kelsie Bouttle will join Natasha Olson-Thorne in a hard tackling centre pairing, while Chong Ka-yan continues to own the no 11 sweater on the left wing. The versatile Adrienne Garvey returns to fullback after starting at centre against Spain, with Ivy Kwong Sau-yan getting the start on the right wing.

Winnie Siu, Karen So and Pun Wai-yan will provide the front row depth once again, with Seure rounding out the forwards reserves. Young halfbacks Jessica Ho Wai-on and Lee Tsz-ting will cover nine and ten while Colleen Tjosvold will support the back three.

Images: World Rugby, HK Rugby,
Additional reporting: HKrugby