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Opinion | Baby steps to leaps and bounds for Hong Kong’s rugby teams as they bang on glass ceilings

  • The women’s sevens team lose a heartbreaker to China in Guangzhou but are now within striking distance of the best teams in Asia
  • All four team programmes have shown they want to take the next step, but tough times lie ahead

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Chong Ka-yan takes down a Chinese player in the Olympic qualifying final. Photo: HKRU
It was impossible to miss the hurt on the faces of the Hong Kong women’s team at the Olympic sevens qualifier in Guangzhou on Sunday.
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After upsetting a bigger, stronger Kazakhstan in the semi-finals of the Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifier, they could not find an answer for perennial powerhouses China, who have now booked their ticket to next summer’s big dance along with hosts Japan, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Kenya and Fiji.

But give credit where credit is due. Head coach Iain Monaghan, who took over duties earlier this year, had his players believing they could shock the favourites when virtually everyone had written them off before the tournament even started.

It’s a similar story along Hong Kong’s four senior teams, as the women’s sevens now look to a repechage June 20-21 in a venue that has yet to be decided to secure the 12th and final spot in Tokyo. Shades of the men’s 15-a-side squad come to mind as they missed out after losing to Canada for the final slot at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Iain Monaghan talks to his players after their loss to China. Photo: HKRU
Iain Monaghan talks to his players after their loss to China. Photo: HKRU
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But to file Guangzhou as a loss might not be the right move. Monaghan’s team over-performed and were led by a trio of youngsters who look to be the future of the programme. Seventeen-year-old Florence Symonds, who stands 1.75 metres, probably has women’s 15-a-side head coach Jo Hull, who was in Guangzhou to watch the tournament, salivating at the youngster’s combination of size and speed. She spent almost the entire weekend doing the dirty work normally reserved for veterans, making hard tackles while forcing teams to commit multiple players to take her down.

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