Boots and all | Key to RWC play-off ‘lies with possession’

A few eyebrows were raised when Uruguay was frequently mentioned in the run-up to last Sunday’s Asian Five Nations game against Japan, with some asking why Hong Kong were looking ahead to the repêchage when they still had to play the Asian champions for the automatic berth at the 2015 World Cup.

We, too, wished for a miracle in Tokyo, but the mind said the task was near impossible. And so it proved as the Japanese juggernaut won 49-8 and booked their World Cup ticket for the eighth successive time.

It is always good to be optimistic but sometimes a pragmatic approach serves you better in life. Hong Kong had limitations and these were cruelly exposed by Japan who, despite being frustrated by a torrid defence, still had enough nous and firepower to run in eight tries.

Can Hong Kong rely solely on their defence in the historic encounter in Montevideo in August?

Dai Rees, team manager on the day, summed up their predicament in Tokyo when he said “there is only so long you can play without the ball”. Japan even robbed us off our primary possession by putting our set pieces, especially the scrum, under immense pressure and pushing us on the back foot.

Skipper Nick Hewson believes the difference between Hong Kong (23rd in the world) and teams in the top 15 (Japan are 13th) is that the top sides are able to maintain the intensity throughout the game, while Hong Kong “faded in that last five or 10 minutes in each half as we were fatigued”.