South China Morning Post
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Salom Yiu Kam-shing and his sevens team-mates must make their home advantage count when the one-off Olympic qualifying tournament is held in Hong Kong in November. Photos: HKRFU
Opinion
Boots and all
by Alvin Sallay
Boots and all
by Alvin Sallay

Home advantage may not be enough in one-off Rio qualifier

Track record shows Hong Kong’s strength lies in delivering consistency over a series of events

Alvin Sallay
Alvin Sallay
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It is a pity we didn’t push for the Asian Sevens Series to decide the sole place given to the region at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Instead, we might have played into Japanese hands by agreeing to have a one-off qualifying tournament which will unearth Asia’s choice when rugby sevens makes its debut at the Games.

Our track record shows the Hong Kong team are not at their best in one-off events. Even though we will be hosting the men’s Asian Olympic qualifiers in November, I’m not convinced home advantage will help us overcome the Japanese, who are bound to power up their team with players drawn from the Top League.

This happened at the Asian Games in Incheon last year when four to five players from the country’s premier 15-a-side competition were called up, including national captain Michael Leitch who was a regular sevens player before being drafted by Eddie Jones.

Japan are not the only threat. South Korea have the potential to pull off a surprise victory and it being the Olympics you can never write off China

Leitch could make himself available for one tournament, but it would be tough for him to take leave of absence from his corporate club for three.

Of course Japan are not the only threat. South Korea have the potential to pull off a surprise victory and it being the Olympics you can never write off China.

But Japan remain our single biggest danger as shown by their dominance at major events, including the last two Asian Games.

We should have played to our strengths and used the three legs of this year’s Asian Sevens Series – China (Shanghai in September), Thailand (Bangkok, September) and Sri Lanka (Colombo, October) to decide the Olympic qualifier. Hong Kong have been crowned Asian sevens champions twice in the past three years, proving we have the ability to be consistent.

With a growing band of well-trained and well-coached professionals at the Hong Kong Sports Institute now available, Hong Kong have no problems with player availability over a six-week period.
The Hong Kong women’s sevens team will play a two-leg series, one at home and one in Japan, to determine which single Asian nation goes to Rio.
The women will play a two-leg series – Hong Kong and Japan – to decide the solitary automatic Asian spot for the Rio Olympics. Ironically it would have been better for the women to play a one-off tournament as Royce Chan Leong-sze and her team have the capacity to pull off a surprise victory but have shown they are unable to sustain a winning run over an extended period of time.

We can only hope Hong Kong Stadium in November will have a sizeable crowd to give Jamie Hood and the men vocal support. It will not be the same atmosphere as at the Hong Kong Sevens but let’s hope the little home advantage we have will prove me wrong and the men’s team can book a ticket to Rio.

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