Hong Kong Sevens: China captains full of praise for ‘old rivals’ Hong Kong, honoured to be part of Melrose event
- China’s men and women will take on their city counterparts this weekend at Hong Kong Stadium
- Teams from Japan and Thailand also taking part in Melrose Claymore competition
The captains of mainland China’s rugby sevens teams heaped praise on their “old rivals” from Hong Kong on Wednesday, and said they always enjoyed playing in the city and learning from their counterparts.
China’s men and women will play in the Melrose Claymore competition that is running as part of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens this week, where they will take on teams from the city, Japan and Thailand.
All the matches in the round-robin tournament will take place at Hong Kong Stadium, with a final on Sunday, and China’s women’s captain Wang Wanyu said their Hong Kong rivals had “really improved a lot in recent years”.
“Specifically their defensive work and the way they move the ball,” Wang said. “When we face them [Hong Kong women’s team] we feel the pressure and need to play at our best to beat them.
“We’re old rivals, and it’s good to play each other so regularly and learn from each other.”
Wang, who won gold alongside her teammates at the Asian Games last year, said she felt a bit of pressure and “a sense of responsibility” having returned to the side after sitting out the HSBC Sevens Challenger series in Uruguay, which China won.
The pressure and responsibility was also because of the fact that Wang, at 27 years old, was “one of the older teammates playing alongside some debutants who can get a feel for an international competition”.
While China’s women are top of the standings in their challenger series, and looking to make it to the elite competition, their male counterparts are somewhat further behind in their development.
Still, Li Haitao, who is leading China’s men this week and said he felt “very honoured” to be playing at Hong Kong Stadium in the final tournament before the sevens makes its expected move to Kai Tak Sports Park next year, insisted his side were not there to make up the numbers.
“We’re really excited to be playing in Hong Kong and we will be putting everything into these matches,” Li said. “This competition is a good test for us.”
Hong Kong’s women, who won bronze at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, are eighth in the challenger standings, and captain Natasha Olson-Thorne said the aim was to get to China’s level.
Given that, the praise from Wang was “great to hear”, Olson-Thorne said.
With some of the best teams in the world on hand, and matches against China and Thailand to come, Olson-Thorne said her side had taken advantage of the extra competition.
“We had a hit-out against Great Britain yesterday, which was really good,” Olson-Thorne said. “We were able to go through our systems and make some tweaks.”
Max Woodward, who will lead Hong Kong’s men in their games against China and perennial rivals Japan, hailed the “good battles in Asia rugby” and said this week’s competition had allowed his side to enjoy a different type of preparation.
“We’re putting everything into this tournament, but we’ve had a heavier training week than we normally would,” Woodward said.
“In a World Series event, you’re playing five or six games, but we’ve only got three, so we’ve had hit-outs against Japan and New Zealand and full contact against Japan.”
