Fitness, power and strength – the key to Hong Kong being competitive in top-flight rugby
Coach Leigh Jones has a tough assignment first-up against Japan this Saturday and matching South Korea will be more in his sights in the Asian test series
A significant increase in fitness, power and strength is what it will take for Hong Kong to be consistently competitive against the best, according to coach Leigh Jones.
We will certainly become more professional as a group and that will be added to by the influx of players
This is just one of the things that has become evident to Jones in his return to the Hong Kong coaching role after a stint in Japan as Eddie Jones’ assistant.
“We have talked about needing to be around 30 per cent fitter to compete with the likes of Japan and 45 or even 50 per cent fitter if we are going to be able to compete with the tier-one countries,” Jones said.
Speaking ahead of his side’s hit-out against Japan at HK Football Club this Saturday – Hong Kong’s first match in the 2016 Asia Rugby Championship – Jones admitted matching fellow ARC competitor South Korea was first in his sights.
“The whole programme is obviously going to help us,” Jones said. “We are still very early into that programme at the moment. I think realistically is going to take us 18 to 24 months before we really start to reap the rewards of that.”
Jones was full of praise for players’ response to the programme and is confident the initial increase in workload, coupled with the injection of new players, will see continued improvement.
“From my perspective we are six months into what is for me a two and-a-half-year project to our Rugby World Cup qualifying year [the 2017-18 season],” Jones said.
