Boots And All | Why winning home qualifying tournament is Hong Kong rugby’s best Olympic hope
Teams battling in the world repêchage for final Games spot will almost certainly be too strong
The pieces are falling into place and when the jigsaw is complete it will paint a bleak picture for Hong Kong, who will have to win the Asian qualifier to make it to the Rio Olympics next year.
The American men are reigning Olympic champions, having won gold the last time the sport featured, at the 1924 Paris Games, albeit the 15-a-side version.
And fresh from their first cup victory in the World Series in London last month, the USA men looked the part as they beat Canada 21-5 to book their tickets to Rio.
Runners-up Canada have now been relegated to the 16-team world repêchage competition which offers one final Olympic berth.
We can most certainly kiss goodbye to any chances of our Olympic dreams if the So Kon Po campaign ends in failure
So if Hong Kong fail to win the Asian qualifying competition at Hong Kong Stadium in November, they face a harder task of defeating core World Series sides such as Canada in the hunt for that final place.
