Hong Kong Sevens 2015 live blog - Day 1

Well, that's yer lot for day 1. Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand all looking impressive among the top four Olympic hopefuls - Australia less so - while Hong Kong must beat Uruguay early tomorrow morning to ensure they win their group in the qualifying competition. 

Don't forget to visit SCMP.com and buy the paper tomorrow for all the action on - and off - the pitch.

I'll be here depressingly early again for all the action, so try to go easy on the bevvy tonight. Thanks for tuning in ... 

FT Fiji 38 Samoa 12

Fiji pick up where they left off, scoring a typical Fijian try full of paces behind the back and over the head etc. Probably the try of the day, Viriviri the man eventually sent over. 

Samoa pull one back through Faalemiga Selesele, just winning the race against Viriviri to get over in the orner as the tackle came in.

But Fiji immediately stretch their lead again, Josaia Raisuqe driving forward from 60 metres out - and he adds his second after the hooter goes with another tremendous breakaway from the centre spot.

HT Fiji 21 Samoa 7

Last game of the day thank Christ unfortunately. And it's first blood to Samoa in the battle of the Pacific Islanders, Tofatuimoana Solia going under the posts from a tap penalty right on the line.

The lead doesn't last long, with Samoa reduced to six for something I frankly missed completely, Savenaca Rawaca converting after sustained pressure on Samoa's five-metre line.

Rawaca then goes on a charge with two in support and takes his time, despite the large Samoan man hanging off him, to pick Semi Kunatani to score. 

As the hooter sounds, Samisoni Viriviri steams past a couple of tackles in his own 22 and drives to the line, Jerry Tuwai the man who actually goes over 

FT New Zealand 26 Scotland 7

Scotland wisely restart the game by booting the ball straight out of touch, then allow Tim Mikkelson to charge unmolested for his 156th try in the World Series (less than 50% of those against Scotland). Now it's time to crush the Kiwis.

With paper airplanes raining on to the pitch from a crowd bored by Scotland's total dominance of the match, they finish moral victors*

*Actual victors: New Zealand, who somehow fluked another try from Rieko Ioane

HT New Zealand 14 Scotland 7

Finally, the one everybody's been waiting for. Scotland are in a hideous pink and blue outfit, a World Rugby rule put in place to stop their mere presence making opponents cry and wet themselves in fear.

After the customary rope-a-dope strategy, with New Zealand camped in Scotland's 22 for the entire half, we give DJ Forbes a try under the posts to make it fair. Now the real game begins.

AND WHAT A GAME! Magnificent stuff from the mighty salmon army as they work it round the pitch from halfway before Fraser Lyle steams under the posts like yer maw runnin for a bus.

Immediately on the restart, we let New Zealand go in front again just to keep them in that false sense of confidence, Sherwin Stowers collecting the kick and sprinting through unopposed. Textbook.

FT South Africa 24 Argentina 0 Second half is similar, Argentina just about containing South Africa without threatening themselves before a chance finally appeared, finished off by the frankly daftly-named Kwagga Smith. Kok gets the try his excellent performance deserves with 26 seconds left after some ball-juggling by Justin Geduld helps him into the corner. Impressive win

HT South Africa 12 Argentina 0 Not much happening for five minutes before the brilliantly monickered Cecil 'South' Afrika bursts clear of the line around halfway and drives under the posts. Then, as the hooter goes, Werner Kok shows great skill and flair, beating a tackle around the halfway line then kick-chasing twice before leaving Seabelo Senatla to score with a rather flamboyant dive, considering he did nowt before Kok let him pick the ball up.

FT USA 21 Kenya 14

Ridiculous amount of cheering for the Yanks here, this is a former BRITISH colony, I'll have you know. Tremendous comeback though - Maka Unufe pulls one back immediately on the restart, then the somewhat rapid Carlin Isles flies away to level, before Danny Barrett puts them in front. "Typically enigmatic" Kenya display. Kenya threaten to equalise with sustained possession after the full-time hooter, but eventually give away a pen. Best game of the day so far

Look at that little feller. I don't understand this photo. I think it's one of them fishy lenses.

HT USA 0 Kenya 14

The explosive Collins Injera explodes down the line explosively for the opener. Not much else happened, before Andrew Amonde snuck over ight as the hooter sounded.

FT Canada 21 Belgium 12

FT Australia 31 Portugal 5

Cameron Clark immediately restores Australia's advantage, spinning off one defender and outpacing the rest to score under the posts. Clark then sets up Pama Fou, who goes over in the right corner, a Portuguese player bouncing off him.  Replacement Shannon Walker dives under the posts at the death to stretch the lead

Easy win for the Aussies, who also have New Zealand in their pool, and the ones everybody fears most, Scotland.

Meanwhile, up now is Canada v Belgium, which positively screams out 'break time' to me. I'm off to get some of the godawful excuse for food culinary delights they have here

HT Australia 14 Portugal 5

Ed Jenkins swats a few Portuguese away with dismissive swipes of his right hand to score the first. Jenkins gets the second too, after nice work from Jesse Parahi to set him up just right of the posts. Not much on offer from Portugal, before sneaking back into it long after the hooter with a breakaway from Aderito Esteves

For some reason, Al Murray the Pub Landlord, mildly famous in Britain and not Hong Kong, has been employed to provide hilarious entertainment at the Sevens this year. That seemed to consist of dancing hilariously in front of a North Stand crowd who had no idea who he was. Here's his latest hilarious video if you're a fan of his hilarious antics

FT France 24 Japan 7

Chihito Matsui pulls one back for Japan immediately upon the restart, going on a burst down the right wing. Can Japan pull it back ... er, naw. Stephen Parez adds one late on for France.

HT France 19 Japan 0

7-0 Julien Candelon sprints down France's left to huge cheers, then boos from another part of the crowd, for the opener. 

12-0 Terry Bouhraoua picks up the ball at the back of a ruck and sprints 50 metres down the left touchline.

19-0 Then it's the turn of Virimi Vakatawa, Japan losing it at the breakdown about 70 metres out and unable to catch the not-exactly-rapid large unit as he goes down that left touchline.

Some of the opening ceremony, illegally filmed from the press tribune - I don't play by the Man's rules, dude.

FT England 26 Wales 19

James Rodwell slipped a couple of tackles and went in under the posts to stretch England's lead. Luke Morgan with his second - a great breakaway run - makes it 26-19 to give them hopes with just over a minute left. England hang on though. Good game.

HT England 19 Wales 12

First blood to Wales, good work from Adam Warren setting up Tomos Williams, before a nice sidestep from Dan Bibby sent him streaking through the middle to level.

England go ahead through Tom Mitchell, sprinting on to his own chip-chase and just scrambling it home.

Then wooft, what a try, Luke Morgan taking it from almost halfway all the way down the left touchline, some pace.

But Phil Burgess goes over in the right corner long after the half-time hooter sounded. Impressive from Englabd

Here comes the first game of the main event, England v Wales.

Meanwhile, here's Zinzan Brooke scaring the crap out of some students of PLK kindergarten earlier today, courtesy of my colleague Matt Scott

While this dragon dance nonsense, sorry, amazing spectacle, goes on below, here's some reaction from Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber after day 1.

"Still a little bit of dissatisfaction coming on the back of a loss, but still good to see reaction from the players who knew they let themselves down in first instance," he told my colleague Alvin Sallay. "A lot of work to do tomorrow morning.

"Uruguay will be much the same as Brazil... got a tough game tomorrow.

"Today one good [scoring a lot of tries] one bad. We were patient and created width across the field against Mexico, but against Brazil we got narrow and were bullied out of the game."

FT Women's final Canada 24 Japan 12 A comfortable win for reigning champions Canada, who weren't much troubled by Japan, who narrowly beat Hong Kong in the semis. 

Next up it's the Opening Ceremony for the main event, with the South Stand just about full - here comes a big dragon.

FT Hong Kong 38 Mexico 5 Well that was much better from Hong Kong - couldn't have been worse - and will hopefully give them a confidence boost ahead of a pool decider against Uruguay tomorrow morning. Need to beat them by more than 10 to win the group, in the unlikely event I've done my maths right. 

Actually, HK and Uruguay have exactly the same points difference, so whoever wins tomorrow's clash wins the group, simple as that

TRY! Hong Kong 38 Mexico 5 Jamie Hood gets the ball in a pokcet of space 10 metres out and jinks his way past a couple of despairing tackles before adding the extras

TRY! Hong Kong 31 Mexico 5 Mexico reduced to six for a high tackle on Salom Yiu Kam-shing. HK look like not making it count as Mexico defend very well for a spell, before finally Salom finds himself the extra man and dives over. Anothe excellent conversion

TRY! Hong Kong 24 Mexico 5 Some sustained possession from HK, work it out left through several phases, and eventually Rowan Varty decides to take matters into his own hands, beating a couple to just jink in in the corner. Brilliant conversion from Hood for the extras

HT

TRY! Hong Kong 17 Mexico 5 Mistakes again from HK, and though they stop one effort to score from Mexico, they work it back again and pull one back on halftime 

TRY! Hong Kong 17 Mexico 0  Tom McQueen the latest to score, taking a quick tap-kick and jinking past a couple to go over just left of the post. This is much better stuff ... Though even as I type that Mexico score

TRY! Hong Kong 10 Mexico 0 HK keep it from kick off, work it up to the left corner, great play from Woodward to suck in several Mexicans. From the recycle, it's worked right to the extra man, Jamie Hood, who dives over in the corner. Narrowly misses the con

TRY! Hong Kong 5 Mexico 0 All Hong Kong from kick-off, then a quick tap penalty from 5m out sees Alex McQueen go over in the right corner. Good start

FT Uruguay 14 Brazil 7

Decent display from Brazil - maybe they're better than we thought. Two from two for Uruguay. Up now, though, Hong Kong v Mexico, a MUST-WIN

Only one change to Hong Kong team - Max Woodward in for Chris Maize

Wright, Woodward, Jones, Hood, Varty, A McQueen, T McQueen

Meanwhile

4.40 FT Russia 26 Tunisia 5 

Seemed like another close game before Russia strolled away in the second half; close pool, though Tunisia weakest. Uruguay-Brazil next, then Hong Kong v Mexico, with a BIG win a must. A 0-0 draw in Uruguay-Brazil might be good for HK, but from what I understand of rugby sevens, possibly unlikey

Meanwhile, HK women finish fourth in their competition

Zimbabwe look the pick of the qualifier competition teams so far, with an 80-0 aggregate from their first two games - here's what flying winger Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, who scored a hat trick in their opener, had to say

"It’s was everyone’s dream to have a good start. 

"We have put big scores on the board and the guys are happy, they are chuffed to have managed to beat some of these big guys.

"We knew we were going to do well, but the extent that we are doing well, like the high scores, is unexpected."

Meanwhile, shock latte news:

Some reaction from Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber to that shock defeat to Brazil. 

"Not the start we wanted," he said. (Gee, ya think?)

"We were really not where we wanted to be in that game. Brazil played a very aggressive game and we didn't react well.

"But it is the first game and we are still in the competition. We need to raise our game."

FT Papua New Guinea 21 South Korea 19

Intriguing game that one, as PNG fought back from two tries down. Close-runMuch tighter in this pool, I feel. 

FT Spain 50 Guyana 5

I'm no rugby expert, but I think I can say Guyana are pump. Got a lot of big muscular dudes, but it's unclear how familiar they are with the sweet science of egg-chasing. Spain and Zimbabwe streets ahead in this pool.

Meanwhile, the sun's come out here at HK Stadium, and it's starting to fill up nicely. 

FT Zimbabwe 41 0 Tonga 

Another paggering from Zimbabwe who are definitely the best-looking team in the qualifying competition. That's 81 unanswered points in their two games.

FT Hong Kong 12 Brazil 17

WOW. That was rubbish from Hong Kong against one of the weakest teams in the tournament. Not much attacking impact against a well-organised Brazil, then hit with two sucker punches late in the second half. Vast, vast, vast improvement needed if they are to have any hope of justifying pre-match hype as one of the favourites to win the qualifying tournament. Next up for them is Mexico at 1702 and a win is vital

TRY! Hong Kong 12 Brazil 17

Uh oh ... After some sustained pressure from Hong Kong, Brazil score two tries in a matter of seconds - and HK are going to lose their opener here

TRY! Hong Kong 12 Brazil 12 

HT Hong Kong 12 Brazil 5

TRY! Hong Kong 12 Brazil 5 Brazil are reduced to six as Schaefer is carded, I think for some jiggery pokery with Lee Jones, who had to get treated for a head knock. HK make it count immediately, working it right through Chris Maize then Varty before Tom McQueen takes it over in the corner. Hood's tough conversion kick hits a post

TRY! Hong Kong 7 Brazil 5 HK fight back and work it well into Brazil's territory before Rowan Varty - playing in his 10th Hong Kong sevens, jinks inside a couple of defenders to take it behind the posts. Jamie Hood adds the extras

TRY! Hong Kong 0 Brazil 5 Umm... Not a great start from HK as Brazil win possession from kick off and charge to within 5 metres of HK's try line. They go over from a poor scrum - Martin Schaefer

* Hong Kong team v Brazil:

Mark Wright, Lee Jones, Chris Maize, Jamie Hood, Rowan Varty, Alex McQueen, Tom McQueen

Bench - Nick Hewson, Max Woodward, Michael Coverdale, Cado Lee, Salom Yiu

2:50pm FT Uruguay 21 Mexico 0 Easy for Uruguay, who look handy enough with some typical big forwards. Up now, HONG KONG. Big cheers

2.25pm FT Russia 14 South Korea 7

That was a bit tighter, Korea giving the fancied Russians a hard game. Hong Kong would fancy their chances against either, though. Next up it's Uruguay v Mexico, who are in Hong Kong's group, then the hosts against Brazil.

Speaking of rubbish music, this year's 'entertainment' will be provided by the Village People. They spoke to the press earlier today, hopefully we'll get an update on whatever pearls of wisdom they had to impart as soon as possible

2pm 

FT Papua New Guinea 19 Tunisia 0

Guess what? Also uni-sided. Good excuse to listen to some good music rather than the dross the stadium DJs play, though. Smattering of fans starting to come in now

1.40pm

FT Spain 27 Tonga 5

That was another one-sided affair, with Spain looking pretty tidy and Tonga unimpressive. Spain and Zimbabwe should have no problems qualifiying from Pool G

We got three more matches before Hong Kong make their debut this year, against Brazil. Up now, Pool F, Papua New Guinea v Tunisia - always a classic

1.22pm 

FT Zimbabwe 39 Guyana 0

Well that was a bit of a paggering in Pool G to get us underway in the qualifier competition, with a quick hat trick for Tafadzwa Chitokwindo who looks nippy. 

Up now it's Spain v Tonga, among the teams who will fancy challenging Hong Kong for the one place on the World Series.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong's women were narrowly beaten by old rivals Japan in the semi-finals, so it's a Canada-Japan final.

1245pm 

As ever there's two competitions here - the World Series, of which this is the fifth of nine legs, and the qualifier competition, the winners of which join the World Series - and that's Hong Kong's goal. Here's an interview with captain Jamie Hood from the @WorldRugby7s twitter feed

7 IN 60! Get to know @hkrfu very own Jamie Hood....thoughts @vartshk @officialhk7s? #HK7s https://t.co/AXRl4wf5Ca

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) March 26, 2015

Meanwhile, our reporter Rachel Jacqueline is over at the Football Club watching the women's competition - where Hong Kong have reached the semi-finals. Great achievement. The final, should they make it, is here in the Stadium at 1724

12:30pm

Has it really been a year since we were sitting here? Doesn't seem like it, but it's time for the Hong Kong Sevens once again.

It's a landmark year, the 40th birthday for a competition first played in very different circumstances at Hong Kong Football Club in 1976.

It's a grey, clammy sort of day at the stadium, decent conditions for rugby - and the action kicks off at 1pm with the big Zimbabwe-Guyana clash. 

Right now the minis are in action in front of a handful of hardy fans who've decided to turn up right from the start. 

Hong Kong kick off their campaign to join the World Series at 1450 against Brazil, and the main action starts at 18:10 with a Six Nations style clash between England and Wales.