‘Heavyweight’ test awaits Hong Kong in Cup of Nations opener against Zimbabwe
Hosts introduce eight new players with five debutants winning places in Andy Hall’s starting line-up
Hong Kong head coach Andy Hall has cast his net far and wide to assemble his strongest possible squad for the week-long Hong Kong Cup of Nations tournament which begins Friday with a “heavyweight” clash for the hosts.
Five players in the starting line-up will be making their test debut when Hong Kong take on Zimbabwe (19:00 at HKFC), with three more newbies on the bench. One of those players has travelled to Hong Kong from his base in Germany.
And although the squad got together for their first full training session only this week, skipper Nick Hewson said the new players bring plenty of experience and skill to the party – and all know what’s expected of them against the African visitors.
Some of the form players from the [Hong Kong] Premiership have come into the squad and they have definitely brought some new energy into the training environment
“Zimbabwe have a very heavy forward pack and our first order of business is to combat that,” he said. “ We needed to exert a lot of effort to stop the momentum of their heavy ball-carrying forwards.”
Hong Kong, currently ranked 24th in the world, won 22-7 in their only previous meeting with Zimbabwe (world number 26) in Dubai three years ago but Hewson, a veteran of that 2012 encounter, played down any lingering psychological advantage the host team might have.
“That result was a long while ago, so we aren’t looking too much at that game,” he said. “They won the African Cup in 2014 and played Russia in the Rugby World Cup repêchage and competed well, so we are under no illusions about their quality. They will be a tough test.
“Our big focus is on making sure we have our own processes right and denying them the opportunities to bring their strengths into the game,” said Hewson, who has been encouraged by the new players joining the squad.
“Some of the form players from the [Hong Kong] Premiership have come into the squad and they have definitely brought some new energy into the training environment,” he said.
