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Hong Kong men’s sevens rugby team bow to Germany in Challenger Series first leg final
- The squad will now head to Uruguay for the second leg of the series, which determines placings for the qualifying portion of the 2020 Hong Kong Sevens
- Coach Paul John’s boys will also have one last – albeit tough – chance to qualify for Tokyo 2020 in June as well
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Hong Kong’s men’s rugby sevens team made their way to the final of the first leg of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger Series, but then got blanked by Germany 10-0 in convincing fashion.
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Hong Kong went undefeated in their pool games, besting Papua New Guinea, Jamaica and Colombia, and then beat Uganda 10-7 in the semi-final on Monday morning (HK time) before squeaking by hosts Chile 17-14 in Vina del Mar.
The Challenger Series consists of two legs, the second taking place this weekend in Montevideo, Uruguay, and will determine the seeding for the 2020 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens qualifying portion of the World Rugby Sevens Series, now slated for October. The Hong Kong Sevens was rescheduled owing to the coronavirus, and will now conclude the 2019-20 season.
Head coach Paul John said his team played well, right up until the match against Germany.
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“It was not a great final,” said John. “I thought it was very flat and we didn’t play our best. We started very poorly and fell off some tackles which helped them at key moments.
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