Poignant moment as championship opens

It will be a poignant moment when Jack Capon leads Hong Kong out for their opening game against Thailand in the under-20 Asian championship at Hong Kong Football Club this evening.

Skipper and No8 Capon, and at least nine other players in the squad, were part of the team who took part in last year's tournament in Bangkok, where tragedy struck Hong Kong flyhalf Ben Kende, who was left paralysed after an accident on the field. Kende is now undergoing rehabilitation in Australia and will be thinking of his teammates.

His teammates will be thinking of him, too. 'Ben would still have been eligible to play for this squad. Ben has many close friends on this team and I'm sure they will be thinking of him. The entire Hong Kong rugby community's thoughts are still with Ben,' said Hong Kong head of performance Dai Rees.

Fuelled by this raw emotion, Hong Kong will go in search of victory as they begin their attempt to book the solitary berth available for Asia at next year's IRB Junior World Trophy, a task made harder by the presence of Japan in a four-team competition that also includes Sri Lanka.

Japan lost to Samoa in the final of the second-tier JWT earlier this month, a result which saw them fail to qualify for the IRB Junior World Championship next season. The Japanese now have to start over again, making it difficult for the rest of Asia to claim the one slot available.

Capon will captain the team once again having spent the last 10 months developing his rugby skills at university in Wales. He will lead an experienced pack which includes two players - hooker Carl Rojens and prop Hong Pak-to - who won full caps against Norway last December.