Rugby World Cup: A million to one? Not quite, but we’re shouting for Hong Kong – and the organisers are too
- A disastrous opening loss to Germany means a victory over Canada requires the greatest game ever played by Hong Kong rugby
- It’s not much of a secret that organisers would prefer Hong Kong make it through to next year’s finals in Japan
So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Yeah, of course, and you don’t need to be Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber to believe in chances. There is still a chance Hong Kong will beat Canada in Marseilles in the final game of the repechage qualifying tournament to claim the last spot in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
There’s still a chance they will be on the same pitch as New Zealand’s All Blacks next October 2 down in Oita and a chance they will be in Kobe six days later against the South African Springboks. There is no chance they will beat either team, because we are talking rugby royalty. But just to be on the same pitch as them in a World Cup match, in Asia no less, would be a mind-boggling feat for Hong Kong.
But first you have to beat Canada, which has now become a fairly tall order. Hong Kong has been pointing to this match-up with the Canucks for a while now as a seminal moment in local sport and rightfully so. All they had to do was take care of business in the earlier matches. They didn’t. Their opening loss to a less-than-stellar German squad was devastating for a team that was the top seed for the event. Granted, those seedings seem seriously flawed.
What that loss means is that in the convoluted scoring system for this event, Hong Kong will have to score at least four tries to get a bonus point and make sure they win by at least eight points and deny Canada a bonus point.
Canada destroyed Kenya and disposed of Germany, have been in all eight World Cups and are the type of physically gruelling team, like Germany, that traditionally give the local lads fits.
However, they are far from invincible and it would not be impossible for Hong Kong to play their best game ever and grind out a win. But when you have to dictate the terms of your victory, including scoring four times against a stingy opponent? Yeah, there’s a chance. It’s a little better than a Lloyd Christmas’ million-to-one chance, but not much. That’s reality.
