Rees said keying on these specific losses does not offer a fulsome picture of where Hong Kong’s rugby scene is at right now, and where it has progressed from over the years.

“They only know about those losses because we are there,” said Rees. “They never picked up on those losses because we weren’t there before.”

Hong Kong nearly scored in sudden death against South Korea, but were unable to finish it off before taking a penalty and the home side counter-attacked to seal the deal. Rees said the loss is still something they are processing as a whole.

“There are 14 broken hearts,” he said of the players who made the trip. “They are absolutely inconsolable. The emotion in the change room and the emotion that still exists is still raw because it is still sinking in and they are reflecting.”

HKRU chief executive officer Robbie McRobbie echoed Rees’ statement.

“Not getting a win in Incheon was of course disappointing, but no one is hurting more than the players. I remain incredibly proud of the achievements of our team.”

Rees said head coach Paul John’s job is not in danger, instead the focus is on a two-leg tournament tentatively set to take place in South America which will help the team prepare for the qualifying tournament at the Hong Kong Sevens again in April.

“Absolutely, categorically not,” said Rees when asked if John would be replaced after the loss in Incheon. Andrew Hall took over head coaching duties for the 15-a-side team following their repechage loss in Marseilles, France, while previous head coach Leigh Jones was moved to a different position as general manager of performance rugby.

Hong Kong still have a chance to qualify for the men’s and the women’s sevens in Tokyo, but both repechages next year will feature stiff competition and multiple World Series teams from around the world. On the men’s side they will encounter Ireland, France, Samoa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Jamaica, Tonga, Brazil, Chile and China, who came third in Incheon.

Rees said the loss is especially difficult for veterans Ben Rimene and Lee Jones, both of whom gave up their New Zealand passports for a chance to play in the Olympics.

Hong Kong did win their first Asian Games gold medal in September, beating Japan in Jakarta and Rees said some people are quick to forget the programme’s various accomplishments and key on losses instead.

“There’s nothing wrong. It’s just unfortunate and sometimes when it comes down to those big moments you don’t come up with the goods. I will say if people understand the journey, where we exist as a performance platform with 15s and sevens, is beyond the wildest dreams of any other country with 60 performance players.”

Rees said the “60 players” explanation comes from the fact that the Hong Kong premiership has six teams for the men’s side, which have to register 32 players, of which 19 have to be Hong Kong eligible. He said some of the eligible players are either retired or beyond the stage of playing internationally, which leaves six teams producing between 10 and 12 players to choose from.

“We’ve only got 1,200 senior men registered in total,” he said. Rees also said they are well aware that rugby in Hong Kong has always been, and remains, a “gweilo” sport, which means cracking the local Chinese community is incredibly difficult, further tightening the talent pool to choose from. He said moving forward, the U19 programmes and the South China Tigers in Global Rapid Rugby are key areas they want to focus on.

Regardless, he said when it comes to sevens, part of the fan appeal of the game is it produces highly entertaining games that can go either way at multiple points. The last time Hong Kong played Korea was in September in Sri Lanka, during the final leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series. Hong Kong won 45-0.

Korea finished fifth in the series with 13 points, while Hong Kong came second, tying on 32 points with Japan but losing on a tiebreaker. Japan’s sevens team have already qualified for the Olympics as hosts for both the men and women.

“If you really understand it,” said Rees of the sevens game and the high expectations last weekend, “it is a very volatile sport and a very unpredictable sport. It’s seven on seven on the pitch and it’s 14 minutes, and the beauty of sevens rugby is that it throws up the unpredictable and that is why people love it.”