Hong Kong’s men crush Japan in flying start to World Rugby Sevens Challenger event in Uruguay
- City’s men finish day top of Pool B after beating Japan and Chile on opening day in Montevideo
- Hong Kong women grab surprise win over Kenya thanks to two tries from Natasha Olson-Thorne
Hong Kong’s men got off to a flying start in the second round of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger series, hammering Japan and coming from behind to beat Chile to end the first day in Uruguay unbeaten.
The city’s women made the best possible start in their pool, beating Dubai runners-up Kenya 12-0 on the back of two Natasha Olson-Thorne tries, but they then lost 24-5 to Belgium, who finished the day top of the group having earlier downed Papua New Guinea 37-5.
Jevon Groves’ men ran in six tries, and Hugo Stiles converted five, in a 42-7 thumping of their Asian rivals, who beat them to Olympic qualification in November.
Liam Doherty got Hong Kong on the board with just two minutes gone at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, and Cado Lee added the first of his two scores a minute later.
It was one way traffic from then on, with Max Denmark, two tries from Seb Brien, and a second from Lee, which was converted by Bryn Phillips, putting their side 42 points ahead with only two minutes left to play.
All that was left was for Takamasa Maruo to grab Japan’s consolation score, which Ryota Kano converted.
