Hong Kong thrashed Malaysia 67-8 in a ten-try rout as they started their qualification for the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.
Played in a wet and humid Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong mastered their opponents in the first half and the conditions in the second – the heavens opened after forty minutes, adding even more grease to an already slippy ball – as they extended a 27-5 half-time lead into a confidence boosting victory in their first Asia Rugby Championship match.
Malaysia, bolstered by the inclusion of several of their naturalized players from the Pacific Islands, enjoyed the better start, capitalising on a somewhat sluggish opening by Hong Kong with Matt Rosslee showing rare nerves with the boot early on.
After an exchange of missed penalties, it was the Hong Kong’s forwards who methodically built a base for success, aided in the early going by a yellow card against lock Aporosa Duwailea.
Hong Kong capitalised on their numerical advantage to score the game’s first try as No.8 Thomas Lamboley corralled the ball perfectly at the base of an attacking scrum to dive over the line. Rosslee struck his only penalty moments later to extend the margin to eight, before Malaysia returned to full strength.
Dominant at the scrum and the line-out, Hong Kong gained significant metres off of their structured set piece play. That dominance set up Lamboley for his second score in the 30th minute, as he again danced the ball over the line from the base of the scrum to push the lead to 13-0.
Soon after fullback Jack Neville finished a long counter attack started by scrumhalf Liam Slatem, who opted for a quick tap and run from a penalty deep in Hong Kong’s territory. Rosslee made sure of the conversion as Hong Kong pushed its lead to 20-0.
With the score line growing, Hong Kong’s discipline slipped marginally as they engaged in the freewheeling rugby the Malaysians were encouraging. That led to the host’s first try after Hong Kong took an unnecessary quick throw-in at a line-out in their own half, eventually turning the ball over to No.8 Etonia Saukuru. The big Fijian rumbled the ball deep before a lovely offload to fullback Samuela Taminisau – and a quick return – put Saukuru over in the corner. The missed conversion left Hong Kong leading 20-5.
Hong Kong responded clinically with Slatem’s sniping run releasing Max Denmark who slipped a neat offload to onrushing centre Tyler Spitz. Spitz one-handed the ball back to Slatem who finished with a 40 metre try – Rosslee’s conversion gave Hong Kong a 27-5 lead.
Shortly after the re-start, a disastrous clearance attempt by Malaysia’s veteran captain Syahir Asraf landed right in the hands of Rosslee, who shoveled a quick outlet pass to winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing, who finished off a gift try in the 42nd minute. With Malaysian heads dropping Yiu finished a pretty display of handling to cross over untouched in the corner, pushing Hong Kong’s lead to 39-5.
Prop Jamie Pincott was not to be denied moments later as the big man, who had built a head of steam in his supporting run, found himself in possession and clear space with 20 metres to the line. His try was converted to extend the lead to 46-5, before Conor Hartley added to the damage, taking another looping Rosslee pass to the line for Hong Kong’s eighth score and a 53-5 lead after the extras.
Jack Parfitt scored a second front-rowers’ try before Robbie Keith capped Hong Kong’s scoring at ten tries. Malaysia scored a long-range penalty late on to finish the scoring, 67-8.
“We started slowly but finished strongly,” said coach Leigh Jones after the match. “I’m reasonably happy. With conditions as they were last week we didn’t know what to expect today and it was again difficult to play, but I was pleased with our strike rate. We managed to finish off a lot of tries; there were also a lot of errors that I wouldn’t like to see normally, but I think many of those were down to the conditions.”
“It was a difficult game with the weather and the fact that Malaysiawere looking to slow it down at every opportunity, so it was a bit of a stop-start affair. But I thought it was a very competent second half performance in particular, very professional, and we have come out of it unscathed as well. No injuries today and a few players coming back next week, so we are in a very positive place going into Korea next week,” Jones concluded.
Jones was pleased with the way his bench contributed. “We thought they would add value and they did well. It is a 23-man game, I know it is a cliché, but it is right. I was particularly pleased to see young Max Denmark go. I’m very pleased with his development and it was good to get a chance to look at guys like Jamie Lauder, [who earned his first Hong Kong cap today], off the back of some great club performances this season,” Jones added.
New captain Jamie Cunningham was pleased with the result as well. “I’m really happy with how the boys went today. We held our composure under some real pressure at the start and played some good footy. The ball got away from us at times, but we were able to come back and put some points on the board, which is what we wanted to do.”
Hong Kong v Malaysia:
1. Daniel Barlow, 2. Benjamin Roberts, 3. Dylan Rogers, 4. James Cunningham (Captain), 5. Jamie Pincott, 6. Nicholas Hewson, 7. Toby Fenn, 8. Thomas Lamboley, 9. Liam Slatem, 10. Matthew Rosslee, 11. Max Denmark, 12. Tyler Spitz, 13. Max Woodward, 14. Salom Yiu Kam-Shing, 15. Jack Neville.
Reserves: 16. Alexander Harris, 17. Adam Fullgrabe, 18. Jack Parfitt, 19. Kyle Sullivan, 20. Michael Parfitt, 21. Jamie Lauder, 22. Robert Keith, 23. Conor Hartley.
Additional reporting and images: HKRU, Asia Rugby
