Tag: rugby

Women’s 20-21 Rugby Season Preview

The Women’s 2020-21 rugby season kicked-off with the inaugural Valley Fast Fifteens pre-season tournament at King’s Park last weekend. The first round of Premiership matches takes place on the 7 November, with the other leagues starting later in the month.

A planned transformation of the women’s rugby structure for the new season comprising of four leagues each comprising six teams – Premiership, Championship and National League 1 and 2 – was hampered by the Wuhan virus pandemic and unplayed matches.

The completion of last season’s Premiership, with Valley Black sweeping League and Grand Championship honours, enabled a re-structuring at the pinnacle of the local women’s game ahead of the Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.

Hong Kong is supposed to contest the Asia Rugby Championship with Japan and Kazakhstan to determine which sides advance to next August’s tournament. The winner qualifies directly while the runners-up enter a four-team play-off. With details still vague, and the prospect of friendlies ahead of a potential competition dimming, players are keenly focusing on the Premiership, as is national coach Jo Hull.

“All of our national players are engaged in the Premiership, both sevens and fifteens, and for the next six months, their whole focus is on Rugby World Cup qualification. Players know they need to perform for their clubs to earn consideration for the squad,” said Hull

“The Premiership will be used for selection, but with six teams – the best six we believe, the idea is to have much higher intensity games than the club game has previously offered, that has been shown around the world as the only way to prepare for international rugby.

“We are delivering that this season and I think the players will really be challenged. There are seven games on the bounce leading up to Christmas and that will be a very good test for the clubs and players. They haven’t had that in a while and they will have to deal with that intensity,” Hull added.

The new Premiership features Valley; USRC Tigers; Gai Wu Falcons; HKFC Ice; SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix and Kowloon.

Double holders Valley Black begin the season as favourites, but with many off-season departure or retirements – Colleen Tjosvold, Stephanie Cuvelier, Suzanne Sittko, ex Black Fern Olivia Coady, workhorse flanker Toto Cheng and captain Caitlin Spencer – will Valley player-coach Bella Milo be able to integrate their replacements and retain the team’s high standards?

Milo commented “We lost a few players and I thought it might be a challenge to fill the gap, but some of the young players stepped up over the lockdown and came back in great shape, and we’ve been fortunate to get new players through word of mouth and social media. Our preparation has been okay, given the circumstances.

“We want to put ourselves in position to finish on top again. It’s easy to win a single Premiership but defending it will show our character and our culture,” added Milo.

Over the last couple of seasons USRC Tigers have pushed the traditionally dominant duo of Valley and Gai Wu hard and in 2019 clipped the Falcons wings and edging them into a third-place finish before running out of steam as injuries mounted late in the campaign. Veteran international Lindsay Varty hailed Tiger’s coach Fan Shun-Kei’s off-season programme that included online training sessions during lockdowns. Hopes are high among the players to push on from last season’s form with a second raft of young players becoming age-eligible for senior rugby. The Tigers have also added experience with Hong Kong winger Chong Ka-yan and hooker Iris Yeung joining the squad.

“We have a great team with a lot of depth and excitement with the new players. We are expecting the usual Tigers’ team spirit, work rate and a little x-factor too. We have our sights on winning the league and Grand Championships, but our focus right now is on our first game and not thinking too far ahead,” said Varty.

Perennial contender Gai Wu suffered a down season by its lofty standards with a third-placed finish after a 7-5-1 season, and a similar placing in the grand championship play-off. Falcons can take heart from the performance of its National League 1 side, which finished second last season, as they develop from within.

“We are building nicely towards the first match with a number of players pushing up to the first team. It will be exciting to see how they go as they challenge some of the senior players, it’s also the first time in a long time that we have had our sevens players for preseason and available for the season. We want to win, and create depth and competition within the club, so players aspire to improve and perform to the best of their ability,” said the club’s Pun Wai-yan.

HKFC achieved its larger objectives of avoiding relegation and being competitive in the top four last season, but coach Peter Ayres is now setting the benchmark higher: “We have to upset the top three; we were seconds away from beating Gui Wu last year, and can’t let those opportunities slip by. With the short preseason, it will come down to how fast we can set our standard and start performing as a team. It will be interesting to see how other teams line up with this shorter preseason.”

Kowloon hit their straps last season under first-year coach Terry Sibanda, who oversaw the introduction of over 19 young players last season at the club. He is after more of the same this season, saying, “We were not very active in the transfer market this year, we looked at possibilities, but our emphasis was on squad retention from last year and continuing to build on that.

“We have a boost from returning players who missed last season due to injury, with Yip Cho Kwan, Tsang Sin Yan and Shanna Forrest all out to make an impact, and a few more exciting young players to integrate into the squad. We have set the bar higher than last season in terms of performance and attitude.

The objective is simple: be competitive in every game. I expect the first few games will be tough. It will give us a chance to measure ourselves and see what level we are at in terms of our preparation, skill and team play.”

Prince Wong, coach of SCAA Causeway Bay talked about a challenging pre-season period for the league’s coaches saying, “Under the return to rugby guidelines, we have had limited contact. The players’ fitness level is high, but with the shorter pre-season, our preparations are really tight and getting back to full contact rugby quickly. The first few games will be extremely hard as we re-adapt to the highest level of women’s rugby.”

With access to games initially limited by coronavirus protocols, two Women’s Premiership games will be streamed weekly throughout the opening month of the Premiership season in November. Matches will be streamed via the HKRU’s Facebook page.

Additional reporting: HK Rugby
Images: Valley RFU

It’s Back!!! – Women’s Rugby Fixtures: 7 November, 2020

It’s Back!!!
Women’s Rugby returns!

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Laurel Chor Honoured by IWMF

Congratulations to Hong Kong women’s rugby international Laurel Chor who was named an honoree in the 2020 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award.

Chor has been given an honourable mention in the International Women’s Media Foundation’s (IWMF)awards for her coverage of the Hong Kong protests and showing the region’s struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights.

The award was created to celebrate the courageous work of female photojournalists. Learn more about this year’s awardees on website.

image: hkrugby

Japan Win in Uruguay, Hong Kong Third

Japan defeated Uruguay 5-0 in an unforgettable final at Montevideo’s Estadio Charrúa, bringing to an end the second tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in South America. Hong Kong beat Chile 12-7 to clinch third place.

After 22 minutes of rugby where both sides cancelled each other out, Japan captain Chihito Matsui finally managed to break the deadlock when he scored in the second half of sudden-death extra-time.

By reaching the final, though, Uruguay secured a place in the top eight in the overall standings and will now compete in the final play-off tournament for a spot in the World Rugby Sevens Series, replacing the bottom-placed core team in the World Series in the following season.

Montevideo champions Japan finished top of the standings on 39 points from a possible 44, after following their bronze medal finish from the first tournament with gold in the second of the South American legs, while Hong Kong’s consistency in reaching the podium on both occasions – second place in Chile was followed third place in Montevideo – was rewarded with the runners-up spot.

Viña del Mar champions Germany beat Italy in the fifth-place play-off and ended up in third spot overall, followed by Chile, Uruguay, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

World Rugby has yet to confirm the third and final round of the men’s World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, which was due to be held in Hong Kong in April.

Breathtaking Final

The final was a high tempo, end-to-end affair but with both defences standing firm in the face of relentless pressure.

Japan had the better of the clear-cut opportunities and could have opened the scoring in the first half of normal time had it not been for Benjamín Amaya’s timely ankle-tap and a handling error from Kasushi Hano when he was five metres from the try-line.

Then, another piece of brilliant defensive work by Diego García stopped Kazushi Hano when it seemed the speedster was in the clear with fifty metres to run.

Uruguay’s best chance to break the deadlock came with 90 seconds of normal time left to play when Kameli Raravou Soejima was sin-binned but they were unable to hammer home their numerical advantage and the scoreline remained at 0-0.

Another scoreless first half of sudden-death extra-time followed before Japan somehow stepped up a gear to finally find a way through, two quickly-taken tap penalties causing disarray in the Uruguayan defence and resulting in the match-winning try for captain Matsui to score the winning try.

South America and Asia for Two Spots

Both semi-finals were South American-Asian encounters with Japan prevailing against Chile and Uruguay were too good for Hong Kong.

Chile, who had lost inspirational captain Felipe Brangier to a knee injury, scored first but then fell away to conceded five tries to rampant Japan who ran out comfortable 31-10 winners.

In the second semi-final, Uruguay’s smart kicking game, deployed by captain Felipe Etcheverry, twice led to tries against shell-shocked Hong Kong, the beaten finalists in the opening tournament.

First Baltazar Amaya crossed on the left-hand side and then Mateo Viñals went over on the opposite flank as Los Teros Sevens won 12-0.

Eight Turns to Four

Chile were a surprise winner in the opening quarter-final, beating Germany in an intense game that seemed to be heading for sudden death when, seconds from the end, Tim Lichtenberg’s unconverted try drew the scores level at 5-5. However, the Viña del Mar champions kicked the restart out on the full. Patience was the key for Chile as they attacked, non-stop, for nearly two minutes until the crack in the German defence appeared and Agustín Planella gave his team the win.

Japan had no trouble in beating Jamaica 32-0 despite an unaccustomed edgy first half and a spirited performance from the Caribbean side. They were more composed in the second half, though, and scored four tries.

A brilliant pass under huge pressure from experienced campaigner, Guillermo Lijtenstein, created the opening try for Uruguay in their quarter-final against Tonga and they went on to add three more tries to win 27-7 and confirm their place in the semi-finals.

To join them in the top four, Hong Kong had to play the waiting game. Trailing Italy by two points with 33 seconds left to play, they recovered possession from a penalty and Max Denmark drew two defenders to put replacement Jamie Hood in for the winning try. An Italian win would have put them among the top eight in the final rankings.

View Montevideo Results >> 

Hong Kong Sevens (Touring Squad): World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series Montevideo:

Max Woodward (Captain); Ben Rimene; Raef Morrison; Michael Coverdale; Hugo Stiles; Cado Lee Ka-to; Jamie Hood; Jack Neville; Alex Mcqueen; Liam Herbert; Russell Webb; Max Denmark; Sebastian Brien; Yiu Kam-shing; Kane Boucaut; Toby Fenn.  

Additional reporting and images: HKrugby, World Rugby

Hong Kong Beaten by Germany in Sevens Challenger Series Final

Hong Kong advanced to the final of the opening tournament in the two-stop World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Chile, before losing 10-0 to Germany. The results keep Hong Kong on track in their bid to qualify for a full-time spot on the World Rugby Sevens Series. 

Germany beat Japan 12-5 in their semi final, while Hong Kong overcame a tough ask from hosts Chile, working their way back from their first deficit of the tournament, 14 points down midway through the first half to win 17-14.

Salom Yiu put Hong Kong on the board shortly before the break with Raef Morrison and Kane Boucaut scoring in the second half to push Hong Kong past the hometown favourites. Earlier in the day, Hong Kong edged by Uganda 10-7 thanks to Jack Neville tries on either side of the interval.

A battered and bruised Hong Kong disappointed in the final, losing 10-0 to the Germans, and adding another chapter to the burgeoning rivalry between the two developing rugby nations at both sevens and fifteens.

It was a bittersweet performance for coach Paul John who was proud of his team’s efforts this week: “Overall, we are pleased with our progress. We finished second and reached the final, which is one of our goals at every tournament, but we suffered a second loss in a final, which is frustrating.

“It was not a great final. I thought it was very flat and we didn’t play our best. We started very poorly and fell off some tackles which helped them at key moments.”

Germany scored their first try shortly before the end of an open first half with both sides having several scoring chances. Penalties and aggressive German defence derailed Hong Kong’s early opportunities keeping them scoreless into the second stanza. Germany pushed their lead to 10-0 after nine minutes and Hong Kong were unable to close the gap down the stretch.

“It is funny, we would have taken that result beforehand if you offered it, but the boys are disappointed with the finish. Still, we are right in the mix now to finish near the top of the two tournaments. Coming in we needed a top eight finish, but our goal was to finish in the top two in both tournaments and we have now done that in the first,” John added.

The squad will travel today to Montevideo, Uruguay where they will take part in the finale next weekend with the same 16 teams.

Rest and recovery are at the top of John’s mind.

“There are some battered and bruised bodies out there after playing six games in two days. Normally, we play five matches in the Asian series, so this is something that we have not done in a while, but no one else has either really. Japan is used to it, but I think we are the only two sides with that experience of back-to-back tourneys with such a huge prize at the end

“The biggest thing is to keep the squad as fresh as we can,” said John, who has the luxury of travelling with 16 players to assess before naming the squad at the end of the week.

“We will look at certain parts of our game of course but it s all about recovery now and having the freshest possible squad come Saturday morning in Montevideo,” John concluded.

During The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series match at Sausalito Stadium on Feb 16, 2020 in Vina del mar, Chile.
Hong Kong Sevens (Touring Squad): World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Max Woodward (Captain); Ben Rimene; Raef Morrison; Michael Coverdale; Hugo Stiles; Cado Lee Ka-to; Jamie Hood; Jack Neville; Alex Mcqueen; Liam Herbert; Russell Webb; Max Denmark; Sebastian Brien; Yiu Kam-shing; Kane Boucaut; Toby Fenn

Additional reporting and images: HKrugby, World Rugby

Hong Kong Men’s Seven in Chile for Sevens Challenger Series

The Hong Kong men’s sevens squad is in Santiago Chile to compete in the new World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

Head coach Paul John has included all 12 of the team that qualified for the 2020 Olympics repechage this June. Experienced campaigners Max Woodward, Ben Rimene, Michael Coverdale, Cado Lee, Jamie Hood, Salom Yiu and Alex McQueen are joined by emerging stars Max Denmark, Hugo Stiles, Seb Brien and Liam Herbert from the Incheon campaign.

The squad also includes Raef Morrison, who missed out on the Olympic qualifier with a training injury shortly before the team’s departure last November. Influential playmaker Jack Neville, and grafting forwards Kane Boucaut and Toby Fenn also come into the squad.

The 16-team opener in Mar del Vina, Chile features eight of the sides participating in last year’s men’s qualifier at the Hong Kong Sevens in hosts Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Jamaica, Tonga, Uganda, Uruguay and Zimbabwe. Seven of the teams participating in this Challenger Series will also compete at June’s Olympic repechage in France.

After a 40-hour transit to Chile, the team has focused on rest and recovery, before ramping up for Saturday’s kick-off. The ease-in period is even more important given that five of the players took part in the domestic league (15s) Grand Final last Saturday before departing on Sunday.

“The boys seem pretty good,” said John from Mar del Vina.

“Still some aches from the weekend games and a few guys waiting to prove their fitness. We have spent a lot of time getting them physically recovered and ready after the trip and have had a couple of training sessions so far, which have been very competitive,” said John.

John believes his side are well prepared and have not been put off by the postponement of the Hong Kong Sevens to 16-18 October while they were away in South America.

“It’s business as usual. Qualifying for the World Series is one of our top aims and these tournaments will go a massive way towards that. We can only assume we have to win and go as hard as we can, which is nothing different from our usual approach.

“The opposition is very good and these two stand-alone tournaments are effectively a mini World Series swing so it’s a good challenge for us. We have to prepare well, play well and take our opportunities when they come. Our focus can only be on what is in front of us now.”

“We just need to take it day by day and top the group on day one and get a good draw for the quarter finals,” he added.

The winners of Pool B will advance to meet the runners-up in Pool C (Germany, Uganda, Italy and Paraguay) in the quarterfinals on Sunday 

It is an interesting group for Hong Kong with familiar foes Papua New Guinea and Jamaica, whom Hong Kong beat at the Chester Sevens last fall, and first time opponents Colombia.

“Papua New Guinea and Jamaica are always difficult. Colombia is the unknown really and are almost at home. When it’s like that, you really have to be on top of your game. But as always it is about us performing as we can. We have to believe in ourselves and execute what we are good at” said John.

“We need to make sure our own game is right. The way it was in Hong Kong last year, when our defence was excellent and we won some very close games and progressed to the final.”

The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series consists of two tournaments, this weekend’s opener in Mar del Vina, Chile (15-16 February), and next weekend’s finale in Uruguay (22-23 February)

Hong Kong Match Schedule: Mar del Vina Day One

 Saturday 15 Feb. 2020 (All times are HK)

Hong Kong v Colombia (23.09)

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea (02.15, Feb 16)

Hong Kong v Jamaica (05.31, Feb 16)

Hong Kong Sevens (Touring Squad): World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Max Woodward (Captain); Ben Rimene; Raef Morrison; Michael Coverdale; Hugo Stiles; Cado Lee Ka-to; Jamie Hood; Jack Neville; Alex Mcqueen; Liam Herbert; Russell Webb; Max Denmark; Sebastian Brien; Yiu Kam-shing; Kane Boucaut; Toby Fenn

Additional reporting and images: HKRugby, World Rugby

 

Women’s Premiership A Grand Final Champions 2019-20: Kowloon

Congratulations to Kowloon the 2019-20 Women’s Premiership A: Grand Final Champions after a hard-fought 12-7 victory over CWB Phoenix in the final.

Image: bc magazine