HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series: Hong Kong’s men through to semi-finals, while women bounce back
- Men’s team recover from losing first game of the day to Chile to easily brush aside Brazil in the quarter-finals
- The women hammer Papua New Guinea in their pursuit of high-place finish having just missed out on last 8
Hong Kong’s men and women had mixed fortunes on the second day of the opening tournament of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in South Africa.
While the men lost their first game of the tournament, the women bounced back to record wins over Paraguay and Papua New Guinea at Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch.
Although a 17-12 victory over the South Americans gave the women’s team something to cheer, it was not enough to get them through to the quarter-finals, as they finished third in Pool D.
Facing the prospect of only coming as high as ninth, Paul John’s side handed PNG a hammering in their second game of the day, with Natasha Olson-Thorne running in a hat-trick in a 44-7 triumph.
Gabriella Rivers and Rosie Wright both scored two tries apiece, and Nam Ka-man also crossed, while Fatima Rama grabbed PNG’s only try, which Sharon Kobor converted.
Hong Kong’s reward is a game against Mexico on Saturday afternoon, Hong Kong time.