HONG KONG—By 8:30am on Saturday morning the iconic South Stand was thronging well-before the Sevens kicked-off: the crowd were in fancy-dress. There were pirates, ghosts, chiefs, squaws, Egyptians, superheroes and criminals decked out in every colour…this is the energy, creativity and expression of fun peculiar to the Hong Kong Sevens that deserves more than one weekend a year to be on display in this underutilised stadium.
Main Competition
Saturday, on the pitch is about whether you come first or second in the Group and go into the Cup, or third and fourth and the Bowl.
New Zealand topped group A, beating both Kenya (5-0) and then Samoa (28-10) and remain undefeated. It was a solid workman-like performance. Each game this tournament there’s been noticeable improvement, in readiness for the sharp-end of the competition tomorrow. Joining New Zealand in the Cup is France. Kenya, Samoa and France were all equal on points, but Frances outstanding performance against New Zealand, where they narrowly lost 19-17 gave them a superior points difference and confined Kenya and Samoa to the Bowl. France blow ‘hot and cold’ in their matches, but in their Fijian flier Virimi Vakatawa they have a star Sevens player, with real speed, skill and strength, who could inspire France beyond the quarter finals tomorrow.
England came top of Group B, despite drawing with Russia. The key match in the Group was between Scotland and South Africa, which the Blitzbokke won 31-0, securing second place in the Group and a Cup quarterfinal slot. Scotland and Russia join the Bowl competition.
In Group C, the USA upset Australia 22-7 to top the Group, with both speedster Perry Baker and tactician Madison Hughes scoring at critical times to deny Australia any momentum. Australia still goes through to the Cup as Group runners-up; Argentina and Portugal to the Bowl.
Fiji easily dismissed South Korea (57-0) and later Wales (36-10), and having been lucky against Canada on Friday night, look increasingly confident in Hong Kong. Wales join Fiji in the Cup, and Canada and South Korea go into the Bowl.
Tomorrows quarterfinals for the Cup are:
New Zealand vs. Wales
USA vs. South Africa
Fiji vs. France
England vs. Australia.
And in the Bowl:
Kenya vs. South Korea
Argentina vs. Russia
Canada vs. Samoa
Scotland vs. Portugal.
Qualifying Tournament
The opening matches on Saturday were the final round of the Qualifying tournament to determine the quarter final places. Japan comfortably beat Tonga 31-0; Spain worked hard to beat Chile 19-0; Germany, the impressive surprise package of the tournament trounced the Cayman Islands 48-0, to top Group E. Zimbabwe outclassed a disappointing Hong Kong 19-7. The closest matches were between Morocco and Brazil, ending in a19-19 draw; and Mexico narrowly beat Papua New Guinea 19-17, only after PNG had a player sent-off and another sin-binned.
This set-up the knock-out QF’s between the top four ranked teams from the Group stages, and teams ranked 5-8: Japan (1) vs. Tonga (8); Spain (2) vs. Hong Kong (7); Germany (3) vs. Morocco (6); and Zimbabwe (4) vs. Chile (5).
The first match was between Spain vs. Hong Kong. It ended 7-7 after Hong Kong scored an equalising try by Salom Yiu Kam Shing midway through the second half forcing the game into sudden-death overtime. Hong Kong continued to dominate play and finally worked the ball into space for Toby Fenn to score in the corner giving Hong Kong a 12-7 victory and finally some home town cheer. So far it’s been a disappointing tournament for Hong Kong, but they are now in the semi-finals tomorrow. They will play against Germany, their Group opponents, who narrowly beat Morocco 19-14.
The other semi-final will be between Zimbabwe and Japan. Zimbabwe eased by Chile 19-5 in the third quarterfinal, and Japan strolled past Tonga for the second time today. After four games Japan have yet to concede a point, and amassed over 145, and must be the team to beat in the Qualifying tournament.
Tomorrow’s semi-finals for the Qualifying tournament include all three teams from Group E and favourites Japan: Hong Kong vs. Germany and Japan vs. Zimbabwe.
And the highlight of the day, was the lunchtime concert, when the Sevens faithful could finally sing-along live with The Proclaimers to “I’m gonna be 500 miles”. A Sevens institutional anthem finally came to its rugby home.
Grahame Carder is a sports enthusiast, former rugby player and resides in Hong Kong.
