Tag: rugby
Women’s Rugby Results – 21 September, 2019
Premiership
CWB Phoenix 32-12 Tai Po Dragons
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 16:30
HKFC Ice 12-29 Gai Wu Falcons
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00
Valley Black 40-0 USRC Tigers
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
Kowloon 7-15 HK Scottish Kukris
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:15
National League 1
Tin Shui Wai Pandas v USRC Tigers
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 13:30
HK Scottish Kelpies 22-10 City Sparkles
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 14:45
Gai Wu Fawkes 27-0 Sandy Bay Storm
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00
Kowloon 0-17 Revolution SRC
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30
Valley Red 0-0 HKFC Ice
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30
National League 2
Gai Wu Hawks 52-5 University
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 13:30
CWB Lammergeier 22-0 Tai Po Dragons
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00
Police Sirens 0-40 City Twinkles
@ tbc, Kick-off: 18:00
Images: hkrugby
Women’s Rugby Fixtures: 21 September, 2019
Women’s Rugby Results – 14 September, 2019
Premiership
HK Scottish Kukris 0-20 Gai Wu Falcons
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00
Tai Po Dragons 17-10 Kowloon
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00
USRC Tigers 61-0 CWB Phoenix
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:15
Valley Black 37-0 HKFC Ice
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:15
National League 2
CWB Lammergeier 10-15 Gai Wu Hawks
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 14:30
Police Sirens 0-40 Tai Po Dragons
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 16:30
City v University
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
Images: hkrugby
Four Changes as Hong Kong Chase Gold in China
After taking silver in the opening Asian Rugby Sevens Series tournament the Hong Kong men’s sevens squad will be looking to go one better in Huizhou, China (14-15 September) – the second of the three-leg series, which builds up to the Olympic qualifiers in November.
Four players are called up to the men’s squad, which lost to Japan in the final in South Korea, as coach Paul John rotates and looks to freshen up the team. Raef Morrison, Seb Brien, Alex McQueen and Ben Rimene are included in the 13-man travel squad with Rimene the nominated injury replacement for the weekend. Their inclusion sees forwards Kane Boucaut and Toby Fenn, and back Tom McQueen, rested.
The eight-team Series offers no easy groups and Hong Kong face a physical route in Pool B, to a hoped-for cup final appearance, against the Philippines, UAE, and China.
UAE had a muscular debut in Korea, narrowly losing to the Philippines in the plate semi-final before beating Taipei to claim 7th overall.
A motivated China seven, fresh from claiming Bronze in the opener – their first podium finish in nearly a year, are second seeds behind Hong Kong and will prove a stiff test on home ground.
John is confident he has a group suited for the task, saying: “Our squad is strong. This competition is getting more difficult to pick a squad for, now, which is good. There is good competition across the group and we have another 14 or 15 guys training that are not travelling, but are pushing for spaces, and that is what we want.
“The boys were excellent in Korea and got very close to Japan, but we didn’t play as well as we could in the final, and that was a bit disappointing. We want to go as far as we possibly can again this weekend. But there is no use in talking about it, until we have an opportunity to play our first game. We’re only thinking about the UAE and China, our day one opponents.
“China were very good in Korea. They can give us a hard time and we are probably playing UAE at the worst time to get someone like that, in the first game of t tournament. It’s a tough group and we need to be on top of our game to come through,” he added.
Hong Kong Men’s Sevens Squad (Huizhou, China, 14-15 Sept 2019):
Max Woodward (Captain); Seb Brien*, Michael Coverdale, Jamie Hood, Lee Jones, Cado Lee Ka-to, Alex McQueen*, Raef Morrison*, Jack Neville, Ben Rimene*, Hugo Stiles, Russell Webb, Yiu Kam-shing.
*Season debut
Additional reporting and images: HKrugby
It’s Back!!! – Women’s Rugby Fixtures; 14 September, 2019
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Talented Youth Pushing for Hong Kong to Shine
There are four changes in the 13-woman squad for the second-leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Huizhou as Hong Kong look to improve on their first-leg bronze medal. Jessica Ho, Amber Tsang Wing-chi and Agnes Tse Wing-kiu coming in as Florence Symonds, Amy Pyle and Lee Tsz-ting are rested.
The youth movement continues as coach Iain Monaghan uses every opportunity to expose Hong Kong’s emerging talent to next-level competition. After a seamless debut from Symonds, who scored a hat trick against Kazakhstan in the bronze medal final, coach Iain Monaghan is set to debut another in a long list of recent National Age Grade (NAG) candidates making senior debuts in forward Chloe Baltazar.
Baltazar is one of a block of Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers players entering the national side and has represented Hong Kong at U18 and U20s sevens level. She is joined in the squad by scrumhalf Jessica Ho Wai-on, one of the original wave of Tigers graduating from age grade to senior rugby in 2017, who earns her first sevens call-up of the season this weekend.
“The young girls bring bags of energy on and off the field, and they are still nowhere near their potential so it’s really exciting to watch them at this level. They all love giving their best to make Hong Kong and their families proud,” said Monaghan.
Monaghan complimented his newest cap Baltazar saying, “Chloe has transitioned well over the summer and played a strong role in the U20s team that won the Asian Series. She brings an edge in our contact tackles and some hard carries from her fifteens experience. She never takes a backward step and I’m pleased she is getting this chance, especially after how hard she worked this summer.”
Captain Melody Li leads the squad with Natasha Olson-Thorne and Nam Ka-man also featured, after successfully returning from injury and delivering impact in Korea. Their defensive skills will be needed with Hong Kong in a challenging group as second seeds in Pool B behind hosts China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. China showed well to start the season, reaching the cup final in Korea before losing 19-5 to Japan. On home ground they enter as early favourites.
“We want a more consistent performance in both halves and to show our hunger and desire to improve on, and back up our strong performances from last week, while affording some new players a chance to show what they can do,” said Monaghan.
“It is a competitive and hard working squad, which is good, because we have some challenging games against improving opponents, who exposed us in Korea when we did not work harder or smarter; we’re looking forward to righting some wrongs from the last tournament,” he added.
Hong Kong Women’s Sevens Squad (Huizhou, China, 14-15 Sept 2019):
Melody Li Nim-yan (Captain), Natasha Olson-Thorne, Sham Wai-sum, Chloe Baltazar^, Jessica Ho Wai-on*, Au Yeung, Sin-yi; Poon Hoi-yan; Nam Ka-man, Chong Ka-yan, Stephanie Chan Chor-ki, Jessica Eden, Amber Tsang Wing-chi*, Agnes Tse Wing-kiu*
^ First senior sevens cap; *Season debut
Additional reporting and images: HK rugby
Hong Kong Retain Asia Men’s Rugby Championship
Hong Kong successfully defended their Asia Men’s Rugby Champions title beating South Korea 64-3 at Hong Kong Football Club.
A day of superb individual performances at the Hong Kong Football Club saw the hosts secure a bonus point, and a 26-0 lead, after just 20 minutes.
Hong Kong were on the front foot from the kick-off, exerting enough pressure on the Korean defence to put fullback Jack Neville over for the game’s first try after 10 minutes. Wing Seb Brien and centre Ben Axten-Burrett added tries in the next ten minutes before Neville bagged a first half brace to push Hong Kong’s lead to 26-0.
Starved of both space and ball, South Korea could only muster a penalty in reply deep in the half. A red card for a dangerous tackle on Harry Sayers left Korea a man down for the remainder, creating space for a Tyler Spitz try late to bring the total to 31-3 at the break.
The second half was more of the same with Hong Kong entertaining the home crowd with four more tries.
Fly half Matt Rosslee started the scoring shortly after the re-start, tiptoeing down the line before breaking in behind the centre defence to push the score to 38-3 after he converted his own effort.
The forwards muscled in on the action with tries from Callum McCullough, who scored a brace in the second half, including a 60-metre solo effort that saw the big man swerving and dummying the defence beautifully.
McCullough, one of the finds of the ARC campaign, was joined by another new cap on the score sheet in the second half when Fai Solomona crossed the whitewash, showing some superior conditioning to finish off another long-range Hong Kong try.
Ben Axten-Burrett served up that try and capped a fine individual performance with a battering try of his own moments later when the forwards demolished the understrength Korean pack on their line to produce another in a day-long series of fine attacking platforms. Axten-Burrett shoulder charged his way through two defenders for an emphatic finish.
McCullough’s loping effort, with hooker Alexander Post in eager support served as the perfect capping for a day when Hong Kong scored nine tries, running their last two match total to 20, to remain Asian champions.
Hong Kong’s bonus point win sees them finish on a perfect 20 of 20 possible points with South Korea on ten and Malaysia on one.
While it took Hong Kong a half-century to claim its first ever Asia Rugby title, a second convincing run against the region’s top contenders sets an exciting stage for the return of Japan to the competition in 2020.
Hong Kong v South Korea (Hong Kong Football Club, 29 June)
1. Ben Higgins, 2. Alex Post, 3. Grant Kemp, 4. Fin Field, 5. Kyle Sullivan, 6. James Cunningham, 7. Callum Mccullough, 8. Kane Boucaut, 9. Liam Slatem (Captain), 10. Matt Rosslee, 11. Harry Sayers, 12. Ben Axten-Burrett, 13. Tyler Spitz 14. Seb Brien, 15. Jack Neville,
Reserves: 16. Callum Mcfeat Smith 17. Mitch Andrews, 18. Faizal Solomona, 19. Craig Lodge, 20. Sam Tsoi, 21. Jamie Lauder, 22. Lewis Warer, 23, Rob Keith
Additional reporting and images HKRU, Tiger Super Sports