Paris Olympics: Hong Kong rugby women brace for fixture clash as 7s team chase Games spot
- Rugby bosses are preparing for September, when the 15s and 7s calendars cross over, but all eyes are now on the Olympics repechage in Monaco
Hong Kong rugby bosses have already begun plotting how to manage their latest calendar collision, with crucial women’s 15s and sevens tournaments poised to cross over in September.
The full weight of the city’s rugby armoury is currently behind head coach Andy Vilk’s sevens team, as they target success at the Olympic repechage tournament, which gets under way in Monaco on Friday.
Hong Kong begin their pool campaign versus Paraguay, whom they comfortably beat earlier this year, before games against Uganda and Jamaica on Saturday.
Vilk said he was profiting from the “confidence and good energy” brought back to his squad by the 15s cohort, who finished second in the recent Asia Rugby Championship to seal qualification for WXV3, the third level of the new 18-nation global tournament.
The Englishman was deprived of those 15s players for last month’s Challenger Series leg in Poland, where a green squad suffered a series of one-sided defeats.
Nonetheless, that competition unearthed a couple of potential stars in Chian Hoi-ning and Ho Tsz-wun.
“They are [in the repechage squad] because their displays in Krakow gave us the confidence to bring them with us,” Vilk said.
“They trained well, and have been tested at this level.”
The imperative of reaching the WXV3 competition, which offers a pathway to next year’s World Cup, convinced Hong Kong rugby to prioritise 15s at the expense of Vilk’s team.
“The rate at which the women’s game is accelerating, we have a small window of opportunity to keep up, and it is now,” said Jo Hull, the local governing body’s general manager of rugby performance, before Hong Kong validated their judgment call with victory over Kazakhstan to seal a WXV3 spot.
The WXV3, which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates, takes place between September 27 and October 13.
The second leg of the 2024 Asia Rugby Sevens Series (ARSS), which provides a route into the second-tier Challenger Series, is provisionally scheduled for late September.
The long-term wish for Hong Kong is to have a player pool that reduces tournament clashes to minor inconveniences.
To that end, a host of the inexperienced players who went to Krakow are in England for a Super Sevens Series competition this weekend.
“We are already talking about [September] to get as much certainty as possible over how it will work,” Vilk said.
“We have fantastic rapport across the programmes, and there are big opportunities in both.
“It is an important time for the 15s, with the opportunity to represent Hong Kong at WXV3, and potentially in a World Cup.
“In the sevens, there is the chance to play in an ARSS and try to qualify for the Challenger Series. It will be a hugely important part of the year, and we are trying to make sure we focus in the right areas for both programmes to be successful.”
Only one of the 12 teams in Monaco will qualify for Paris, with imperious China, recently promoted to the elite world series, outright favourites to claim that remaining spot. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are all scheduled for Sunday.
Vilk’s side had a practice match against Samoa on Tuesday that “got us thinking about our game … and how to make the most of the opportunities we create in defence and attack”.
Vilk has studied video footage of unknown quantity Jamaica, and following a narrow loss to Uganda this year is expecting a “tricky, physical” test from the Africans.
“Our first aim is to get through the group, and build into the tournament,” said Vilk, who is optimistic the passport application for young star Julia Mibuy Mba Oyana will be resolved imminently.
“It is similar to a Challenger Series, because 10 of the teams are the same,” Vilk added. “A repechage has a certain weight, though, because it is one step closer to the Olympic dream.”
