World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series: Hong Kong teams named ahead of bid to join game’s elite
- Men’s and women’s teams heading to South Africa with chance to join core groups on the line
- Men’s coach Jevon Groves largely sticks with side that claimed shield at Hong Kong Sevens earlier this month
Hong Kong have named their two squads for this month’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in South Africa, an event the teams must win if they are to have any hope of joining the elite of the game.
Played over two weekends in Stellenbosch, the men will be playing for the opportunity to take part in a four-team tournament in London in May, against the three sides who will be relegated from the core group as the World Sevens Series is reduced to 12 teams.
The women, meanwhile, have the chance to earn their spot among the likes of New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain on the 12-team international circuit.
With such a significant prize at stake, men’s coach Jevon Groves has picked the 13 players who claimed the shield at the Hong Kong Sevens two weeks ago, plus adding Michael Coverdale and Harry Sayers, for a tournament where Hong Kong have been grouped with Chile, Papua New Guinea and Italy.
After a lengthy process including the Borneo Sevens and Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in March and the Singapore tournament last week, 21 players had an opportunity to press their cases for the squad.
“Those three tournaments gave us a chance to see everyone play and to select the players we think best suits this tournament,” Groves said.
“There were some tough decisions given that everyone has put their hands up over the past three tournaments, but this squad has the balance we need for what we expect will be a high attrition competition, with two three-day tournaments on back-to-back weekends,” added Groves.
While the men are competing in the Challenger Series for the third time, the women will make their debuts, the latest in a season of them, and head coach Paul John has selected a 16-strong squad brimming with experience.
Linchpins Natasha Olson-Thorne and Melody Li Nim-yan will once again co-captain the side, while John has retained 10 of the 12 players who competed at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
“This is the first time for the women to participate in the Challenger Series and we are very excited to be taking part,” John said.
“It is a great opportunity for us to carry on from the Hong Kong tournament. We should be proud of how we played in Hong Kong. We won our kick offs and our defence was good. Now the challenge is for us to make that our baseline performance, to keep that level of progress and to keep improving.”
The Challenger Series will take place on the weekends of April 21-23 and 28-30 in the Markotter Stadium.
Men’s squad: Max Woodward (capt), Seb Brien, James Christie, Michael Coverdale, Max Denmark, Liam Herbert, Callum McCullough, Alex McQueen, Pierce MacKinlay-West, Mak Kwai-chung, Alessandro Nardoni, Harry Sayers, Hugo Stiles, Russell Webb, Salom Yiu Kam-shing.
Women’s squad: Natasha Olson-Thorne (co-capt), Melody Li Nim-yan (co-capt), Maggie Au Yeung Sin-Yi, Micayla Baltazar, Chloe Baltazar, Chloe Chan, Stephanie Chan Chor-ki, Chong Ka-yan, Shanna Forrest, Jessica Ho Wai-on, Nam Ka-man, Gabriella Rivers, Georgia Rivers, So Yee-kei, Agnes Tse Wing-kiu, Rosanna Wright.
