Hong Kong Sevens: Max Woodward welcomes ‘changing of the guard’ as 5 handed debuts for first home event since 2019
- Woodward will captain Hong Kong for a fourth time at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens
- The city’s most capped Sevens player Salom Yiu will appear in his 11th tournament, bringing a huge amount of experience to the 13-player squad
Max Woodward will lead a team of experienced and new players into the first Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens since 2019, and said the make-up of his squad represents a “changing of the guard” for the city’s team.
The 13-man squad includes five new players, with Alessandro Nardoni, Harry Sayers, Pierce Mackinlay-West, Liam Doherty and Mak Kwai-Chung primed for their Sevens debut.
There will be no shortage of experience either, with the likes of Woodward, Alex McQueen, Seb Brien and Russ Webb, scrum-half Cado Lee and prop Michael Coverdale rounding out the core of the senior team.
Hong Kong’s most capped Sevens player, Salom Yiu Kam-shing, returns for his 11th tournament and said it would likely be his last.
This year’s group includes 10 players from the side that won the first leg of Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Thailand last weekend, and Sevens coach Jevon Groves said it was “fairly easy” to include them after that performance in Bangkok.
“It would have been very difficult to drop any of the players given their performances as individuals, and as a team,” Groves said. “With those players coming off of a tournament, we felt they had the consistency we needed. These guys are primed to play.”
