Hong Kong Sevens: city’s men leave fate in hands of China and Japan, as women breeze past Thailand
- Two late tries send Hong Kong’s men to 33-14 defeat against Japan, although sides could still meet in Sunday’s final
- Micayla Baltazar scores brace as city’s women beat Thailand 28-10 in rematch of Asian Games encounter
Coach Jevon Groves refused to blame missing players after the host city’s men lost 33-14 to Japan in the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens’ Melrose Claymore tournament on Saturday.
And the home side could still have a rematch with their arch-rivals in Sunday’s final if the Japanese defeat China in their morning encounter.
They would surely relish another crack at Japan, who wrecked their Olympic dream last November by winning an Asian qualifying final that Hong Kong led with a minute left. They proved beatable, though, on Hong Kong’s way to Asian Games gold last year.
Hong Kong found themselves trailing 19-7 after James Christie gave them an early lead. Liam Herbert gave his side some hope with a try with less than three minutes to go, only for their opponents to grab two late scores for a flattering margin of victory.
“I thought we started really well and scored a really good try,” Groves said. “But there were probably some individual inconsistencies in our performance.
“There were lapses in a kick-off, a turnover. There were two kick-offs really that we didn’t regather, and from there they scored tries.”
